Wednesday, November 12, 2014

X: 4, 5

Chapter 10, Verses 4, 5

"Discernment, wisdom, victory over delusion,
Forgiveness, truth, equanimity, pleasure and pain,
Birth and death, fear and fearlessness,
Non-violence, austerity, contentment,
Generosity, honor and dishonor:
All these are the condtions of mortals,
And they arise from me."

Paramahansa Yogananda:

God alone is responsible for all good and evil, for all contrasts, contradictions, and relativities in the unfolding of human destiny.  This is not to say that a person is good or evil, joyous or sorrowful, because God so orders it.  Rather, all contrasting potentials are God's doing through the laws of Nature, but the way that they manifest in a person depends upon karmic patterns created by the use and misuse of free choice, which sets into operation the Sattvic, Rajasic, and Tamasic qualities of Nature.

All mental states serve a divine purpose.  By discernment, wisdom, self-control, and other righteous means, and by the experiences through many lifetimes of oppositional states, such as birth and death, courage and fear, fame and infamy, joy and sorrow, the human being seeks at last the origin of it all.

Srila Prabhupada:

Of whatever we find, good or bad, the origin is Krishna.  Nothing can manifest itself in this material world which is not in Krishna.  Everything flows from Krishna.

[Many qualities are mentioned in these verses.  The one that is jumping out at me right now as especially worthy of attention is Tushtih, or contentment.]

Swami Shivananda:

Those are content who are satisfied with their possessions and their situations in life.  They are free from greed, and so they have peace of mind.

Contentment makes a person very rich.  It annihilates greed.  Greed makes even a rich person a beggar of beggars.  The greedy person is ever restless.

No comments:

Related Posts with Thumbnails