Corruption
Corruption is grabbing the wealth of others for the sake of comforts of one’s own body and family. The body is like a seat in the train and you, the soul, are the passenger. The family members are like just bench-mates in the same train. For the comfort of yourself and your bench-mates, if you trouble other passengers in the train, it is corruption. Life is just a matter of a short one-hour train journey. Your bench-mates will get down at their respective destinations and will not remember you thereafter. Even you will have to leave your seat and move on.
After death, you have to leave your family members, who will not recognize you in their next birth. After getting down from the train of this life, you have to face the interview with God. There he will decide if you are to be granted permanent happiness or permanent misery. Therefore, you must concentrate on the preparation for this grand interview even during your journey through this life. Do not worry about the comforts of your own seat and that of your bench-mates. You will have to leave your own seats and all the bench-mates behind anyway. The bonds with your bench-mates (family members) are temporary and unreal. Sankara says that whatever is temporary must be unreal. The bond, which did not exist before and will not exist in future, does not exist even in the present time. Such spiritual realization is a must for getting a permanent control over corruption.
those who undergo misery for the sake of the mission of the Lord, will achieve the love of the Lord
The difficulties giving misery are the best ground to understand this statement of Lord in Gita. Therefore, love the problems and misery. Hate peace and happiness. But this should be limited to yourself for the personal spiritual effort and should not be extended to society surrounding you. You are not supposed to disturb the society around you in any way in which case God will be furious with you. Demons were punished for this because they gave misery to the society for their personal happiness. Those who undergo misery for the happiness of the society please the Lord and reach the temporary heaven. Here you are serving the society without any selfishness and therefore for the sake of welfare of the society you are rejecting your peace and happiness. You are certainly greater than a fellow who serves the society for his personal peace and happiness like the present politician. But those who undergo misery for the sake of the mission of the Lord, will achieve the love of the Lord and reach His divine abode forever.
Here also you are serving God not for your peace and for your happiness. Therefore, whether it is service to society or God, the selfishness should be absent and sacrifice should be present. Several devotees aspire bliss by serving the Lord. This is not the correct spirit. One should aspire for the bliss of God through his service and not selfish bliss.
At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami
Anil Antony
Universal Spirituality for World Peace
antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org
Corruption is grabbing the wealth of others for the sake of comforts of one’s own body and family. The body is like a seat in the train and you, the soul, are the passenger. The family members are like just bench-mates in the same train. For the comfort of yourself and your bench-mates, if you trouble other passengers in the train, it is corruption. Life is just a matter of a short one-hour train journey. Your bench-mates will get down at their respective destinations and will not remember you thereafter. Even you will have to leave your seat and move on.
After death, you have to leave your family members, who will not recognize you in their next birth. After getting down from the train of this life, you have to face the interview with God. There he will decide if you are to be granted permanent happiness or permanent misery. Therefore, you must concentrate on the preparation for this grand interview even during your journey through this life. Do not worry about the comforts of your own seat and that of your bench-mates. You will have to leave your own seats and all the bench-mates behind anyway. The bonds with your bench-mates (family members) are temporary and unreal. Sankara says that whatever is temporary must be unreal. The bond, which did not exist before and will not exist in future, does not exist even in the present time. Such spiritual realization is a must for getting a permanent control over corruption.
those who undergo misery for the sake of the mission of the Lord, will achieve the love of the Lord
The difficulties giving misery are the best ground to understand this statement of Lord in Gita. Therefore, love the problems and misery. Hate peace and happiness. But this should be limited to yourself for the personal spiritual effort and should not be extended to society surrounding you. You are not supposed to disturb the society around you in any way in which case God will be furious with you. Demons were punished for this because they gave misery to the society for their personal happiness. Those who undergo misery for the happiness of the society please the Lord and reach the temporary heaven. Here you are serving the society without any selfishness and therefore for the sake of welfare of the society you are rejecting your peace and happiness. You are certainly greater than a fellow who serves the society for his personal peace and happiness like the present politician. But those who undergo misery for the sake of the mission of the Lord, will achieve the love of the Lord and reach His divine abode forever.
Here also you are serving God not for your peace and for your happiness. Therefore, whether it is service to society or God, the selfishness should be absent and sacrifice should be present. Several devotees aspire bliss by serving the Lord. This is not the correct spirit. One should aspire for the bliss of God through his service and not selfish bliss.
At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami
Anil Antony
Universal Spirituality for World Peace
antonyanil@universal-spirituality.org