Continued from Part 1....
- What is weightier than earth? Mother
- What is taller than the sky? Father
- What is faster than the wind? Mind
- What is more numerous than grass? Thoughts
- We call this earth Mother Earth - Bhumi Mata We worship her as a mother. What can be more important? The mother who gave birth to us is more important. Our mother is verily our God.
- For us humans our parents who gave us life in this world are like gods, the highest, the most important beings. This is consistent with the Upanishadic pronouncement "Matr devo bhava, pitr devo bhava" (Mother and Father are like God).
- In an instant the mind can travel anywhere, everywhere and back again.
- What grows faster than grass? Thoughts grow faster. Waves and waves of thoughts arise in our minds constantly and move away. There is no end to it. They grow and grow and continue to grow with newer and newer layers of thoughts - faster than grass.
- We should respect our parents.
- We should keep our mind under control.
- We should trim our thoughts, weeding out unnecessary worries.
- Who is the friend of a traveler? Companion
- Who is the friend of a householder? Spouse
- Who is the friend of the sick? Doctor
- Who is the friend of the dying person? His charity
Explanation:
- A traveler's best friend is the companion traveler.
- A householder's true friend is his wife. A Hindu man takes a woman by the hand at the wedding ceremony and walks seven steps (sapta padi) with her around the fire as both pledge their eternal friendship to each other. He says: "With these seven steps you have become my life's companion. We are both friends. I shall never fail to be your friend. May you also never fail to be my friend . . . ." " This is the understanding, the promise, the commitment that binds a Hindu couple.
- For a sick person the most desirable friend is a doctor.
- For the dying person the charity done during a lifetime serves as a friend by providing a sense of fulfillment and preparation for the life to come.
This group of questions stresses the need for and the role of friends and the need to be involved with others in a mutual, healthy, giving and receiving of support. The first three friendships referred to in this stanza are with other persons but the last category, the friend at the end of one's life, is one's own lifetime of giving.
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- By renouncing what does one become loved? Pride
- By renouncing what is one free of sorrow? Anger
- By renouncing what does one become wealthy? Desire
- By renouncing what does one become happy? Greed
Explanation:
- The question focuses on the need to be loved, to be free of sorrow, and on happiness and wealth.
- The answers revolve around controlling the mind in such a way that we gradually rid ourselves of our enemies within: pride, anger, desire and greed.
- and 4. When one succeeds in giving up desire, there is little need for material possessions and one's sense of well-being (original meaning of wealth) increases. Wealth is viewed here in the context of what one may have in relation to one's desire.
- Every action/inaction is controlled by the mind. Therefore we should practice control of our minds.
- Renunciation is not mindless self-denial but a method of exerting control over ourselves.
- What treasure is the best? Skill
- What wealth is the best? Education
- What is the greatest gain? Health
- And the greatest happiness? Contentment
- To be skillful is to be fortunate and worthy of recognition.
- To be an educated person is to be a wealthy person.
- To be healthy is to possess the greatest gift.
- To be contented is to be happy
Summary:
- We should develop skills in areas which interest us most and continue to maintain those skills in order to excel.
- The emphasis in our studies should be acquisition of knowledge, especially the higher knowledge.
- A person who is not contented and is a slave to greed is a slave to everyone. A person who makes desire a slave rules the world.
- These questions and answers provide a practical guide to mental, social and physical well-being.
- What is a man's self? His progeny
- Who is his God-given friend? His wife
- What supports his life? Rain
- What is his principal duty? Charity
Explanation:
- A man's progeny represents the reflection and extension of his own self.
- His wife is his best friend, as discussed in an earlier.
- Man's most basic need for food can be met only by adequate rainfall for crops.
- Giving and sharing serve as the foundation upon which a person should base his or her life.
- These questions and answers focus attention on those areas immediate to the individual self: children, spouse, the element essential to sustain life and the concept of sharing.
- Is there a person who enjoys all pleasures of the senses, who is intelligent, is respected by all creatures and worshiped by the world, who breathes and yet is not alive?
- The person who fails to satisfy Gods, guests, servants, pitrs and his Atman, may breathe but is not alive.
- What makes the sun rise? Brahma
- Who moves around him? Gods
- What causes the sun to set? Dharma
- How is he held firm? Truth
- One sees the sun (aditya) as the natural wonder, the life-giving center of this world system and a principal creation of Brahma.
- Gods keep the Atman company, just as the planets, named after the Gods, circle the sun. When the self is realized through knowledge, that inner illumination leads to the man-God relationship which is the quest of Hinduism.
- The sun and the atma j yoti are firmly fixed in truth. The sun is held in space by physical laws of gravitation, energy and motion - by evident truths. The atma jyoti is sustained by eternal Truth, which exists beyond time.
- The end result of this knowledge is dharma or right conduct. Dharmic action performed under the guidelines of one's own faith is interpreted as the cause for the brilliance of the atma jyoti.
The sun in all its phases, rising, setting or fixed in space, recalls the rising within us of the atma jyoti. The natural laws governing time and the heavenly bodies and the moral law, dharma, are equated here.
to be continued...
