OLD IN THIS CASE IS CERTAILNY GOLD!!!

Namasthe,

Somebody has rightly said "Character is what you are when nobody is watching you!" How true!!!
In this life, where we always try to project an image of ourselves, for convenience, this is one of the parameters to judge a truly moral person. Swami Vivekananda puts it very well when he says,

" Watch a man do his most common actions; Those are indeed the things which will tell you the real character of a great man."

Most of us have wrongly defined "Great" as "How famous we are", "How much wealth we have amassed" etc,etc, which is highly objective. But is this really "Great"?? If so, are these so called great men "HAPPY" with their position? For, is it not to make themselves happy, to satisfy an inner desire, that these men and women set out to achieve what they have. After all this struggle, do they have the conviction to stand up and say " I am a satisfied man/ woman today. I can now lead a life free of apprehensions."

Well, I am not sure that many would have the courage to say this. For, common experience will tell us that when our happiness "DEPENDS" on "SOMETHING", our being happy too is limited to the period of that "something" remaining intact. Most of us cling to "power, money, things" so on and so forth to make us happy. And NATURALLY, just take that away and we are back to square one. Any disagreement? Well, I assume not. For, a sincere analysis of our daily life will prove to us the relevance and the truth in these statements.

Well then what is the solution to this apparent mess? It is something which has been said by our sages, ages ago and has been echoed by every prophet in every age.
The only solution is to "RENOUNCE." This might sound philosophical and distant to most of us, but a logical analysis too will convey to us the same message. Renunciation need not mean that you "Give up the things", it only means that you are not controlled "by their presence or absence."
Of course in the initial stages, the former is necessary in letter and spirit.

This is what the Christ meant when he said "The kingdom of heaven is within you."
This is what the Buddha meant when he said "Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."
This is what our sages meant when they said "Not by progeny, not by wealth, but by renunciation alone is immortality reached."

Well, a further continuation of this discussion in my next post.

Regards,
Anikethan.