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Gaining Fame and Achieving Success :
Genius is mentioned as a great natural ability, whereas common sense is
indicated as the practical wisdom. The first quality helps in gaining
prominence and publicity, whereas the second one imparts worth and
success to the human beings. Genius is a rare trait, whereas common
sense is found to be the rarest virtue.
Genius without Common Sense:
Most of us have heard the story of a scholar and a boatman. There lived
a learned scholar who had mastered many branches of learning such as
physics, chemistry, math, astronomy, economics, politics etc. Once he
came to the banks of a river for reaching the other side. After
boarding a boat he started enquiring the boatman about his educational
qualifications. The boatman replied that, the only art he learned in
his life was rowing the boat and swimming in the river. The scholar
felt a great pity for that ignorant boatman and remarked that, by not
learning academic subjects, he had wasted the maximum part of his life.
When the boat reached the midstream of the river, it started to rain
heavily. Now the boatman enquired the scholar, whether he knew
swimming. The scholar replied that, in his busy life of a vast
learning, he had no time left for such silly activities. Then the
boat-man told him about the impending danger that, the boat would drown
in the river due to the heavy down pour, and the only art needed to
save the life is swimming. Consequently the scholar of great erudition
became one with that swollen river. This anecdote clearly shows that
even a great genius cannot achieve success, without adhering to common
sense or practical wisdom. Theoretical knowledge may succeed in
impressing the masses, but it cannot help in achieving real success.
Genius can be the view of life, but common sense is the real way of
successful life.
Common sense is Uncommon :
Just by hearing the term “Common Sense:, one may think it to be most
ordinary and a general quality of the human beings. But, the fact is
that, the most uncommon trait of the human beings is called as common
sense. A strange feature of this world is that , “All that glitters is
not gold, all that matters is not told”. Accordingly, the markets are
flooded with apparently useful items, but really worthy objects are
very rare to be found. Similarly, the universities are supplying heap
of knowledge to the students, but very little of it may be of real help
in achieving spiritual success. Many are living a directionless life in
this world. Even after developing centuries of secular civilizations,
exploring of the cosmic nature, inventing millions of high-tech
devices, unfortunately, most of the human beings have not learnt to
live like real human beings. Many of them have never heard about the
real success of human life. It is quite easy and simple to be truthful
in thought-word and deed, whereas for telling a lie, one has to adopt
diplomacy, hypocrisy, manipulation, wickedness and deception. It is an
astonishing fact that, simple truthfulness is a rare quality of the
human beings. Crookedness in thought-word and deed is generally
followed by the ordinary human beings. Thos who are hypocrites to
themselves how can they become true to others? Those who are not
truthful in their thought-word and deed are nothing but two-legged
beasts.
Men & Monkeys :
Putting forth his theory of evolution, Darwin expressed a myth that men
have come from monkeys. No kind of practical proof is available for
this fanciful theory. Darwin’s fore fathers might have been monkeys. It
is generally perceived that men are becoming worse than monkeys by
discarding the age-old culture of spiritual righteousness. The
perverted human beings are engaged in harmful selfishness, misguiding
materialism, vulgar life styles, violent dealings, discriminate
egotism, hypocritical relationships, unrealistic thoughts, useless
superstitions, foolish atheism and diabolical fanaticism. This due to
the net result of the absence of common sense. The most important
issues like , the purpose of life , the human situation, the final
goal, the real duty of life, nature of God, identification of the self,
the ultimate welfare, the path of Universal well being, all these are
not discussed in our academic studies. Without knowing anything
regarding these burning issues, our educated brothers and sisters think
themselves as intelligent and successful. Should it be called as
genius, development, self-deception or self-annihilation ? If our
learning cannot save us from degradation and downfall, how can we
become superior to animals?
Success through Common Sense:
We have heard the story of competition between the wind and the sun, in
the matter of removing the upper cloth of a villager. When the wind
blew fiercely and tried to blow off the cloth, the villager wore it
still more tightly and the wind failed to accomplish the task. When the
turn of the Sun came, just by increasing the temperature, the Sun made
the sweating villager to remove his upper cloth. The sun simple used
his common sense to win the competition. In another example, when the
master gave his soiled clothes to his servants and advised them to
clean them by applying heat, a foolish servant took the clothes near
naked fire and got them burnt. The wise servant inserted the clothes
into the boiling water and got them safely cleaned. This is the victory
of common-sense. While beating a snake, one should see that the stick
is not broken and the snake is killed. While chastising your children,
see that they are truly reformed without a feeling of retaliation and
revenge.
Adopt Common sense with Genius:
The famous scientist Sir C.V. Raman expressed that, more than genius,
what is needed for success is a fresh outlook towards the problems.
This is known as common-sense. Sir Issac-Newton discovered the law of
gravitation due to hi sheer common sense by seeing an apple falling
from a tree and being attracted by the earth. Although genius is a
great quality it should accept the guidance of common sense for
achieving success, just like the cooperation between a blind man and a
lame man. The fact is that, common sense can acquire genius, but mere
genius cannot create common-sense. In this regard one should know that
, “ What a man has, may depend on others, whereas what a man is depends
upon himself. “ Genius may depend upon the materialistic knowledge,
whereas common sense depends upon one’s own spiritual enlightenment.
The great personalities like Albert Einstien, Thomas Alva Edison, Sir
Vincent Churchill etc had faced failure in their academic lives. It is
only the common-sense coupled with commitment, sincerity, endeavor and
tenacity made them successful and renowned.
Common Sense Penetrates and Succeeds:
If a physician knows thousands of medicines, without knowing precisely
as to which medicine should be given to which patient, can any patient
trust such a theoretical doctor ? If a student memorizes an entire text
book of his study, without knowing the appropriate answers for the
various questions, can he become successful? All your special sense
will fail, if you do not have common sense. Sage Dattatreya had
accepted twenty four guides in his life to derive worthy knowledge from
them. These guides were such as the five great elements (earth, water,
fire and ether), sun, moon, a child, a girl, a python etc. Out of his
purified intellect and common sense, he had learnt great teachings from
them, which are exemplary to all the seekers of the truth. If we apply
a fresh and unbiased outlook towards the human life, we can understand
the following facts. Nobody born in this world at his or her own
desire. No one dies at his or her own choice. During the lifetime,
everyone is free to conduct his activity, whereas the reward is
ordained only as decided by God. This being the clear fact, how stupid
it is to deny God and engage in senseless atheism ? This world is
foreign land for the living beings who have come here from some unknown
region and shall depart for some other unknown abode after spending a
brief period of earthly existence, comparable to the short halt
of travelers in an inn. The mundane world is called a san ocean of
suffering. The first and the foremost duty of the human beings should
be to cross this ocean of mortality to reach the shore of immortality.
If the human beings remain attached to the mundane world in the name of
secularism, materialism, politics etc., they cannot come out of the
dangerous chain of births and deaths.
The Boat and the Water:
Over indulgence in selfish worldliness by misguided people results in
all kinds of social unrest and national disintegration. An
enlightened person of clear common-sense can never engage in
worldliness. Such a noble person lives in this world, just as a boat in
water. The boat should never allow water to come inside. The material
objects should be accepted, just to satisfy our immediate needs. One
should eat only to the extent of his appetite. Anything more or less
shall create uneasiness. In this regard, Lord Krishna advises us in the
Gita to be balanced in our habits of eating, enjoying, working,
sleeping and waking to avoid sufferings. One has to endure the natural
cycles of gain and loss, heat and cold, sorrow and joy, ups and downs,
victory and defeat etc by putting greater stress on spiritual welfare.
Those who care only for temporary benefits like sense gratification,
physical gains and entertainments are liable to neglect the spiritual
aspect of eternal welfare. The individual soul in its pure existence
transcends the limitations of time and space. The worldly existence
under the spell of space, time, birth, death, ageing, rebirth, hunger,
thirst, poverty, disease, violence, suffering etc, is a matter of
punishment for the fallen jiva souls, who have discarded the service of
Eternal Master, with a vanity of enjoyership. These jives are hurled
down to mundane sphere of maya, which inflicts constant grief, fear and
death. Although the jives get degraded due to their association with
matter, they can be reformed by the help of holy company which is
capable of uplifting the sincere jivas from their fallen condition. The
external energy of the Supreme Lord which deludes the erring jives is
maya, who is also the supplier of material ingredients. The materials
of this mundane world are perishable and submit to the scrutiny of
measurement. All the measurable physical and chemical qualities like
height, weight, temperature, illumination, acidity, area, volume,
hardness etc indicate the relative nature of maya, which constantly
changes from time to time, place to place and from person to person.
The experiences like pleasure, pain, sorrow, grief, bliss, happiness,
anxiety, tension, fear etc do not come under the process of
measurement, as they are related to the spirit. The mundane matter is
finite and measurable. The spirit being transcendental, it cannot be
measured or perceived in physical laboratories. God is absolutely
infinite, therefore neither perceivable, nor measurable by the human
senses. The individual spirit is infinitesimal, therefore it is beyond
the perception of empiric science.
The World Appears As “ THAT WHICH IS NOT”:
Matter is physical, while spirit is non-physical. As the life
transcends the laws of chemistry and physics, they are irrelevant in
the research on life. The worldly knowledge gained through
sense-perception is apparent and eclipsed. It never allows the living
beings to have any kind of true knowledge of anything. For example,
when you see an object of red color, you think that the object to be
red. But the reality is that, the red surface which you are seeing is
just anti-red. When the sunlight falls on that surface, it sucks all
its friendly colors like violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow and
orange. As it hates the red color, it gives the red back to you, who
wrongly see that non-red surface as red one. In this manner, every
object of this world appears to the living beings as quite contrary to
the reality. The worldly beings are thus deceived by their defective
senses and also due to the perverted vision. As long as a jiva soul
remains under the influence of the relativity of maya, it remains
incapable of knowing anything about the absolute reality. The
investigating scientists complain that the nature is cunning, as it
does not allow to be investigated thoroughly. These poor scientists
forget that, their own brains too are cunning since they are the part
and parcel of the mundane nature. The triple qualities of nature known
as Sattva (mixed goodness), Rajas (passion) and Tamas (ignorance)
influence the living beings and create misguidance. They act like
opaque spectacle, red spectacle and black spectacle to distort the
vision of the living beings. The heart of an ignorant person is like a
dirty and turbulent water surface which reflects highly distorted and
mutilated images. The heart of a passionate person is like a polluted
water surface of ripples which reflects broken images. The heart of
mixed goodness is relatively better than the other two, yet that too is
incapable of producing correct pictures about the reality. Only when
the human heart transcends these triple qualities and achieves the
state of pure goodness( Shuddha Sattva), it becomes capable to reflect
the absolute reality. This is possible only through the spiritual
virtue of devotional process, acquired in association with a pure
devotee of the Supreme Lord.
Absolute Truth is Transcendental:
The defective understanding of the human-beings under the spell of
triple qualities creates variations in the perceptions and ideologies
of the various human beings, resulting in differences and
contradictions. Devotional performance uplifts the human life by
imparting clear vision and spiritual wisdom. Absence of this divine
wisdom results in various problems and controversies. Those who do not
possess practical wisdom or common-sense, tend to subscribe to the
negative trends like atheism, fanaticism, hatred, violence,
superstition, cruelty, quarrel, intolerance, selfishness and duplicity.
Common sense acquired through spiritual wisdom prompts the jives to
adopt sincerity, honesty, truthfulness, enthusiasm, devotion
compassion, uprightness etc.
Spiritual Revelations are Flawless:
Vedic knowledge or the spiritual revelations transcend the time, space
and the triple qualities of the phenomenal nature, hence they are
absolutely perfect and free from the four-fold defects known as , -
inadventure, blunder, inadequacy of the senses and tendency for
deception. All the material, empiric and academic information is
misleading due to these four fold inherent defects. Therefore, the
empiric knowledge has no merit in understanding the spirit.
Relativity of Sense Perceptions:
Every student of science knows about the limitations of our sense
organs. Our ears can hear sounds ranging from 20 cycles per second up
to 20,000 cycles per second. We cannot hear infra sound and ultra
sound. Our eyes can respond only to a very small band spectrum of
light. We cannot see below infra red rays and above ultra violet rays.
Similarly we cannot see X rays etc. Any object which is very small or
very big, most closer or most far way from the eyes cannot be seen by
us. Certain animals and birds are capable of seeing during darkness, as
their visions have different band spectrums. Similarly certain
creatures can perceive high frequency sounds which we cannot hear or
feel. It is often noted that many birds and animals receive prior
intimations regarding the earth quakes and natural calamities, then
they start behaving strangely. Certain household animals get prior
information about the impending death of the house people which makes
them to cry strangely.
Limitation of the Senses:
A human being has two eyes which will help him in determining the
distance between himself and the seen objects. As the human eyes are
situated on the same plane a person can see only in one direction at a
time. Our two ears which are situated in opposite sides can hear the
sounds of various directions. God has given us two eyes and two ears,
but only one mouth and a single tongue, as he wants us to see a lot,
hear a lot, but eat a little and to speak a little. Vision of the human
eyes can cover only about 70 to 80 degrees of angle. Neither we
can see simultaneously in both the sides, nor at the back side. A
fish has better privilege to see around except at tits tail end. This
fish vision may cover almost 240 degrees angle. Therefore, the wide
angle lense in photography is known as the fish-eye-lense. The creator
God Brahma has four heads in four directions to see his entire creation
simultaneously.
Occult Vision through Herbs:
Regarding the special perceptions of birds as well as the miraculous
powers of the herbs, the following incident provides some amazing
information. The event was narrated by a muslim saint who lived in
Madras, who was a knower of occult science and a person of
international fame. It was about a gentleman of Delhi who was
maintaining two parrots in a cage. In due course of time one of the
parrots became afflicted with some eye complaint and subsequently
stopped eating and sleeping. Seeing such a condition of the bird, the
owner kept the cage open, so that the parrots may freely fly away to
the forest. What he observed was that, the healthy parrot alone flew
out of the cage and after some time it brought some herbal stick
and began to apply it to the diseased eye of the other parrot. Within a
few days the sick parrot regained its sight and became all right. Both
the parrots then left the cage and flew out to the forest. Latter the
owner found the herbal stick in the cage and kept it in his turban.
When he went out on a walk, he found some strange looking persons
speaking strange language. He understand that they were from some other
world on an unusual mission. In the mean time the herbal stick fell
down and lost. Consequently the strange vision disappeared.
Insignificance of Empiricism:
The cosmic universe is so vast and so wonderful that, empiric
scientists discover only a little about it and think themselves as very
great. In comparison with the endless ocean of divine wisdom, the
materialists are as small as frogs jumping in a dried up well. The
endless cosmic universe along with its billions of wonders is just a
part of the uniquadrangular majesty of the Supreme Lord. The divine
abode is the tri-quadrangular majesty which is the seat of
grieflessness, fearlessness and immortality. A person of true
common-sense absolutely surrenders to the Supreme Lord in association
with the holy souls, by discarding the false ego of becoming a foolish
genius of this grievous and fearful mortal world.
Faith in God is Natural:
Faith in God is a natural virtue of human beings. In the absence of a
clear perception about God, the ignorant masses worship various
prominent objects like sun, moon, mountains, trees, rivers etc. Our
Bharat Bhumi is a holy land where the spiritual knowledge manifested in
the form of the Vedas, Upanishads, Vedanta Sutra, Puranas, Gita,
Srimad Bhagavatham etc. These divine texts disclose the entire range of
phenomenal and transcendental knowledge. Here in you can find perfect
answers for all the un-answered basic questions of human life.
Discarding such an exalted divine treasure, most of our people are
groping in darkness to collect materialistic ignorance from foreign
countries. These people are more unfortunate than pennywise-pound
fools. This country, which was once upon a time the world –teacher of
super excellence, due to the neglect towards spiritual values, ha snow
become a beggar for the rejected refuse of the foreigners. Due to the
foolish attitude of our fallen masses, the harmful atheism and
injurious fanaticism discarded by the foreigners are safely thriving
here to befool and engulf the larger sections of the society. Although
the evils like sophistry, diplomacy and falsehood may succeed
temporarily in suppressing the natural human faith in God, the real
nature of the human beings cannot be suppressed forever. The readers
may just note the teaching of the following anecdote. A rationalist
professor once had an occasion to deliver a lecture on the subject
“there is no God”. For the purpose of substantiating his theory, he
prepared elaborate arguments and instruction material. While proceeding
to the lecture hall, he came across a small temple, where he stood
silently for a minute with folded hands, praying for the success in the
ensuing lecture. For a person fallen on the ground , the ground itself
is the shelter for getting up. Similarly, without the grace of God,
neither you can deny God, nor you can have your next breath. If the
human beings lose their sense and common sense, who can save them ?
Avoid Foolishness:
Foolish materialists do not believe in the existence of the spirit
which is the basis of life. At the same time, they are very greedy for
collecting material wealth and enjoyments. This type of stupidness is
known as gaining the world and loosing the soul. When a person dies,
the spirit leaves the body. All the chemicals, hormones, enzymes and
other ingredients of human body are known to the medical science. In
the absence of the spirit, even by administering all the known
biological ingredients, you cannot make the dead alive. When the
individual spirit is so valuable, how foolish it is to discard the
spiritual welfare and to live a worthless life ! One
should take due care of all the three constituents , namely body, mind
and spirit. While body and mind are temporary, spirit is the eternal
entity. The really wise people are those, who strive for acquiring the
eternal spiritual treasure known as the “Divine Love”. This is the
message of pure common sense.
Society is Like a Mirror:
Man is a social being. Progress of an individual is closely related to
his social environment. Social welfare is possible, only when all the
individual members are worthy, honest, responsible, wise, noble and
courageous. If a persona tries to acquire wealth and enjoyment by
depriving others, it finally results in digging one’s own grave. By the
application of common sense we can understand that, the society is just
like a mirror. If you want to see a pleasing picture in the mirror,
certain conditions have to be fulfilled. Similarly, if you desire for
your progress, welfare and prominence in the society, you have to
fulfill certain personal an d social obligations. A clean and perfect
mirror reflects a nice picture, when the person standing in front of
the mirror is good looking, well dressed and is in pleasant mood. When
there is darkness you cannot see your image. Likewise, an ignorant
society does not reflect your worthy gestures. A broken mirror, uneven
mirror, soiled mirror and faded mirror shall not reflect anything as
is. If the person standing before the mirror is angry, ugly, dirty, ill
dressed and restless, even a clean and perfect mirror cannot project
any pleasing picture.
Social Reciprocation:
If you desire to form a pleasant environment and sensible society,
everyone in your society should be honest. Everyone should strive for
the progress of the entire society. Everyone should possess
self-control, simplicity, service, wisdom, generosity, friendliness,
kindness, austerity, enthusiasm, alertness, love of truth, hatred of
evil, endeavor for special progress, uprightness, responsibility,
gratitude, devotion, dutifulness and courage. At the same time, one
should discard the negative qualities like lust, anger, greed, pride,
envy, enmity, hatred, selfishness, violence, discrimination, duplicity,
cruelty, laziness, falsehood, atheism, fanaticism, wastage etc. Just as
your picture is reflected in a mirror, your personality gets reflected
in the society. If you help the society, the society will help you. If
you clean up and reform your society, you can live a clean life. If you
save the society from downfall, the society too shall save you from
downfall. If you work for the affluence of the society, you can remain
as an affluent member of the society. If you deceive the society, the
society too shall deceive you. If you deprive the society, the society
too shall deprive you. Its is the holy duty of everyone to work for the
progress and welfare of the society and of the nation.
Various Kinds of Reflections:
The society which is not well cultured is just like an uneven mirror,
which reflects disproportionate and deformed pictures. A disunited
society of internal controversies is like a broken mirror which
reflects mutilated pictures. A worthless society is like a dirty mirror
which fails to reflect anything. Only when you act like a noble man,
you can expect nobleness from the society. Every mirror has a natural
defect known as lateral inversion, due to which you see your left side
as the right side and your right side as the left side. Likewise, the
society too has certain inherent defects in reciprocating your feelings
and sentiments. You have to tolerate it in good spirit. When a mirror
is kept flat on a ground, the highly situated objects in the sky are
seen as the very low lying in the mirror; the lowly situated object in
the sky appears as a highly placed one. This phenomena indicates the
reciprocation between the spiritual abode and the mortal world. The
highest spiritual sentiment of amorous love appears here as the low
type of relationship. The lowest spiritual sentiment of peace or
neutrality appears here as the object of highest attainment. Therefore,
everyone in this world aspires for peace after facing failure and
unrest in the dealings of conjugal love, parental affection, fraternity
and servile sentiment. In fact this world is a perverted reflection of
the spiritual abode.
Spirit and the Matter, Similarity & Distinction:
As the amorous love is the highest principle of relationship in the
divine abode, all the living beings on this earth have a great
attraction and fascination for conjugal love. At the same time there is
an unnatural factor in the worldly relationship, which make sit
despicable. In the amorous love of the spiritual platform, the Supreme
Lord alone is the Absolute Enjoyer or the Male personality, whereas all
the individual spirits are the female partners or lady-love. Lord
Krishna the Supreme is served by millions of milk maids in the eternal
goloka Vrindabana. In this perverted reflection of this world, some
individuals are the male enjoyers, whereas some others are the female,
enjoyed entities. In fact, it is against the spiritual constitution of
the individual souls to become enjoyers or the Lords. This shameful
worldly act is just like a street beggar acting like a monarch. The
amorous love of divine abode is eternal, all blissful and most
agreeable. Whereas the conjugal love of this world is polluted due to
selfishness, lust, envy, competition, sedition, dissatisfaction,
victimization, suppression, harassment, quarrel, divorce, dowry, death
etc. Here men and women often seen fighting to assert their rights and
superiority, without being able to meet both the ends. Both the events
like, men thinking women as their enjoyables and women thinking
themselves as the enjoyed of someone of this world are against the
original spiritual principle of devotional service and divine love.
Serve the Real Master:
As per the moral code, when the husband of a chaste lady proceeds on a
long voyage apart from home, the wife maintains austere vow and
everyday worships the picture of her husband. During this worship,
suddenly if the husband returns back from the journey and reaches home,
the chaste wife should cut short her picture worship and she should
affectionately welcome and serve her husband. Similarly, for the chaste
ladies, their worldly husbands are the pictures of God. When the call
comes from God to serve him, the chaste wife should immediately engage
herself in the service of the real husband(the Supreme Lord) by
stopping the worship of the picture(worldly husbands). Those who do not
understand this secret cannot claim to be worthy or chaste. The hearts
of living beings also are compared with mirror. Lord Chaitanya
instructed to clean this mirror by the help of chanting Divine names.
Thus the purified heart reflects the spiritual reality to bestow
self-realization and God-realization. Robber Ratnakara chanted the
Divine Rama names and turned out to be a great saint Valmiki. |
