PERTINENT QUESTIONS, POSSIBLE ANSWERS ... 7

Q. 1. What is the way to success?
A. 1. Character-formation.

Q. 2. What is character?
A. 2. The resolution of past mental impressions brought about by karma (work) leading to pronounced tendencies of thoughts, motivations, behaviour and action along specific lines.

Q. 3. How may character be formed?
A. 3. By the practice of purity, concentration and unselfishness.

Q. 4. What is purity?
A. 4. It is preservation of the energy resources of the body and the mind by the practice of Brahmacharya, that is, restraint of the senses from indulging in gross pleasure, frivolous and fruitless in the attainment of higher ends in life.

Q. 5. What is concentration?
A. 5. It is the focusing of the mind on progressively smaller zones till point-focus is reached. And then comes transcendence of the mind, cessation of all thought and the revelation of the Self (Atman) which is the abiding Truth in all.

Q. 6. What is unselfishness?
A. 6. It is the release of the individual mind from the narrow bounds of ego-consciousness into the infinitude of Self-consciousness. Beholding the all-pervasiveness of the Self, one is no more attached to puny self-interest but is inexorably drawn towards the welfare of all. Such a one lives only for the well-being of all for in all he see his own Self reflected through cosmic beams.

Q. 7. Is success worth having at the expense of character?
A. 7. Success without character is a contradiction in terms for material success is in no way the index of true success. Man's degree of attainment is to be measured in terms of his human culture rather than his material advancement. Character formed, the battle of life is half won. Then it is but a matter of time before the struggle for earthly survival is won as well. Thus, the formation of character, development of ethical sense and the will to do good to oneself through service to all is foundational to the pursuit of success and anyone devoid of these attributes, however prospering in life, is living a life in futility. For him is the prescription of going back to the kindergarten of life and learning the basic principles of ethical living. Spirituality will come later.

Q. 8. May we pursue prosperity as a goal in life?
A. 8. Prosperity cannot be the goal of life. Hence, it ought not be pursued as a goal in life naturally. However, pursuit of perfection for the Vaishya (the trading class) necessarily involves money as the medium of exchange in a big way and that leads to inevitable accumulation of wealth. But such earning must be obtained through ethical business practices and never any dubious means that transgresses the bounds of law or of the Spirit that is termed 'Dharma' in our scriptures. Money earned thus is for world welfare and not individual enjoyment. If this golden principle is remembered, then prosperity ceases to be pernicious and is instead the base for philanthropy that conduces to the good of all.

Q. 9. If life is ephemeral, then why ought we not to only enjoy it to the fullest while there is health in us to do so and we have the wherewithal to fulfil our desires?
A. 9. Mere sensate pleasure-seeking and the fulfilment of desires thereof is the lowest form of derivation of the infinite bliss that is our very nature. Our divinity beckons us to seek the higher fulfilment of life and we cannot but respond to this higher call despite the intermissions of more vital cravings of the body and the mind. The animal in us is now long dormant through the progression of the evolutionary process and we may now no more be able to halt the further onrush of this current of life sweeping us to the ocean of bliss hidden within us. As such, one may, if one chooses, step aside and dwell for a while in the whirlpool of desires before the buffeting of the billows of barbarous living brings one to one's senses and the path is set right and the bliss sought within, in the inner recesses of one's spiritual heart where the Beloved waits on in patient expectation to consummate the love for the devotee in a final union of ecstasy.

Q. 10. Is seeking happiness compatible with seeking enlightenment?

A. 10. The average person seeks happiness in life but the vicissitudes of life soon teach him that permanent and true happiness is an elusive dream in a world of ever-shifting affections. Then he seeks enlightenment by approaching an adept in spirituality and learns that knowledge and not pleasure is the goal of life and that the happiness he has so long sought has been nothing but sensate pleasure wearing the garb of happiness with its underside of sorrow hidden under the tapestry of deceitful delight. His illusions are now dispelled as he receives instructions from his preceptor in the laws governing the spiritual world and a new world opens up before his purified vision full of the bliss of the Spirit within. The aspirant is now happy as he is enlightened in the knowledge of his Self but his happiness is of the nature of bliss and not of the former stuff of sensate pleasure. Such happiness is not a fancy of the fleeting moment but is a perennial possession for it derives from the core of one’s existence, stable, secure and free. The seeking of such bliss of the soul is entirely in keeping with seeking enlightenment for the two are the obverse and the reverse of the same coin, that of existence, absolute and transcendental.