Who can read/listen to Gita

First of all, let me give you the good news that I’ve finally completed my first reading of Bhagavad Gita!! It’s been a really long journey – around 6-7 years. Yes it surprises me too that it took me so long; but what makes me happy is that I’d the perseverance to pursue it. It has so much of knowledge that with every chapter I was more and more engrossed. I never realized that I’d been reading it for years! People always think that scriptures are for your old age but I don’t think that applies to Bhagavad Gita. I see so many blogs/books these days on the art of living, simplifying your life and other topics to that tune. When I read them I realize that I’d read all the substance is what I’ve already read in Gita. That’s when I realized that the knowledge contained in Gita is ageless – it’ll always be applicable irrespective of the changes in this world. Maybe that’s what spiritual really means. And the sooner you read and attempt to understand it, the more appreciative, happy and understanding you would be in life.

This shloka is very interesting. I never thought God would ever say that it’s not good to share Gita with anybody. I would’ve thought that it’s good for one and all. However that’s not true. And rightly so.

He says that one should not share the secrets of Gita with a person who has given up on his duties, is deep into the temptations of this world and has sacrificed his religion in pursuit of those temptations. Such a person is so mesmerized by worldly temptations that he wouldn’t be able to absorb the essence and influence of God. Thus it would be a disrespect to the scripture as well as God.

It should also not be shared with anyone who doesn’t believe in God. One who doesn’t have faith and love for God; and doesn’t worship Him; who thinks that he is everything; he who is an atheist. Such a person wouldn’t be able to understand what feelings portrayed by the scripture.

It should not be shared with anyone who doesn’t want to listen to it. He will get bored listening to it and will not be able to absorb it.

It should not be shared with one who maligns God. He would only find more reasons to malign Him. Hence would increase his sins.

Thus, if a person doesn’t have any of the above qualities then he deserves to read/listen to Gita.

If a person doesn’t follow his religion but has none of the other three qualities then he too is deserving.

If a person doesn’t follow his religion and doesn’t believe in God but has a desire to learn Gita then he too is deserving.

However, if a person finds faults in God then irrespective of what other qualities he does/does not possess, he’s not deserving of Gita.

Division of society

Growing up I’d often felt how unfair it was that the society in India was divided into classes; with the lower ones being treated condescendingly by the higher echelons. So while reading the Gita when I came upon the chapter that talks about class division it touched a nerve. It enlightened me on why it’s necessary and the way it is today is how the mankind evolved it. It was not designed by God to be this way.

We need brains to solve an issue, muscle power for protection, food and money to nourish the brains and body; and hard work to produce the food. Society is like our body. The brahmins are the brain of the body, kshatriyas the arms, vaishyas the thighs and shudras the feet. Thus each and every class is important for the smooth functioning of the society. They’ve all been born off the body of God and hence all are equal. There’s no question of one superseding the other.

Each class has it’s own qualities but these qualities are neither to be used for personal gains nor to rule over the other classes.

The position of the brahmin is the highest. He’s the one who makes the rules of the society. He’s the teacher and the enlightened one; but he’s not the one who earns money or punishes anyone. Nor does he indulge. Selfishness is completely absent from his life. He eats simple food and gains as well as disburses knowledge. He uses whatever the society gives him.

Kshatriya is the ruler – he punishes the sinner and rewards the Samaritan. It’s his duty to protect the society and religion. Even though he punishes, he is not the creator of the rules. He just follows the rules made by the brahmins. According to the rules, he collects the taxes from the public and spends it for public benefit.

Vaishya is the one who possesses money, farms and animals. He earns money and finds way to increase it. His life is made easy by the rule of the kshatriyas and the knowledge of the brahmins. He happily pays his taxes, serves the brahmins and donates clothes etc. to shudras.

Shudras by nature are more in number as compared to other classes. They’re more physically skilled than mentally. Hence they perform the physical work of the society. Just like the body can walk because of the feet, the society can function because of the physical work of the shudras. In return for his services, the vasihya gives him money, kshatriya protects his money and brahmin shows him the righteous way.

Hence each class has its own function. Just like a factory. A factory has workers, engineers and managers. They all have their work cut out for them based on their skills. If any one category stops working then the factory can’t do production. So they’re all equally important.

After reading this it made so much sense that our society was divided into classes.

Bye bye a happy year and welcome a happier year!

That does sound like an odd title, doesn’t it? Well I wanted to show my gratitude for the year that’s gone by and express my hope for the year that’s on the threshold. And with hope I’m reminded of a saying on my calendar this month, by Vaclav Havel

It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

Isn’t that  a beautiful quote? Anyway I digress. Come new year and we can see the word “resolutions” everywhere – on blogs, minds, conversations and what have you. I’m not much of a resolution person; there was a time when I would make resolutions very excitedly and lock them up until next year when it was time to make new ones. Then one year I felt bad when I realized that they didn’t mean much to me. So last year I made some goals for myself – primarily related to my hobby; I would take an account of how I was doing on them every month and now when I look back I think I “exceeded expectations” on my goals (I must admit that it is so good to get that rating in some review ). So I think I’ll continue with that trend – make some goals for myself and take a checkpoint on my progress every month.

Coming back to the happy year gone by, this has been on my mind for quite some time and I think now is an appropriate time to do it. I would like to post my gratitude to God for His blessings in the year that was:

• I’m grateful to Him for the wonderful jobs we have. In this economy when people are facing hard times I can’t thank him enough for blessing us with great jobs! I will not deny that there are moments when I feel “This is too boring!” or “How wonderful it would be if all I could do was stay at home”; but deep inside I am grateful to Him. Whatever I might whine about my job, there’s no denying that I feel very proud of it!
• I’m grateful to Him for blessing me with a wonderful family. It feels good to know that there are so many people who care about you. Of course there are moments when you have a hard time with one more people in the family but that’s what a family is all about. You can fight all you want and still know that whatever happens they’ll always be there for you and you for them. And I know that’s the kind I have. With that I would also like to say that it’s OK to fight in a family. Many people have this notion that you have a “bad” family if you have people fighting. I don’t think so. It’s like the more you talk, the more there are chances of an argument. Sure you can avoid any arguments by not talking at all; but then that’s not a family.
• I’m grateful to him for blessing me with the most beautiful home. Yes we bought our first home last year! It is a dream come true. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. My mom knows that I always wanted a home of my own since I was a kid. So the day we got the key to our very own house was one of the happiest days of my life! And as I always tell my DH it’s the best house in the whole wide world! Not that it has no blemishes but in the grand scheme of things they do not matter. It’s when I see a homeless that I realize how blessed I am to be able to come back to a warm home. That does not mean I’m underestimating my home in any sense – all I want to say if that first I would like to thank God for the fact that I have a house and then for the wonderful house.
• I’m grateful to him for blessing me with me. We’re unable to appreciate what we have till we either lose it or see others around us who don’t have it. We take it for granted that we eyes to see the beautiful world, ears to hear the sweet sound of everyday life, legs to walk to the bus and hands to do the odd jobs around the house. Have you ever seen a handicapped person? Next time you’re feeling deprived, just think of one handicapped person you’d seen and put yourself in his/her shoes. I’m sure you’ll find your spirits lifted up!
• I’m grateful to him that I could do not one, not two but three crafts fairs – the first time in my life! Having done them I know it’s not easy to do them and you need a lot of things to work for you!

You must be wondering why with every “up” I’d posted a “down”. I did that to let people know that my life also has its down moments and there might be many more that I’ve not listed here nor do I want to recall them.

1. Because your life is as happy as you think it is.
2. Because your life is as good as you think it is.
3. Because your life is as blessed you think it is.

It’s all in the mind. I feel so good now, so blessed. How do you feel?

Donations

Just like food and yagya, donation can also be categorized as saatvik, rajasik and tamasik.

Saatvik donation is one where the donor considers it to be his duty to serve humanity. He never thinks about what he would gain from this donation either in this life or after. He doesn’t expect anything in return from the receiver. He gives to the appropriate persons, at appropriate places and in appropriate times.

Any place/person/time, in need of what you’re giving is an appropriate place/person/time. In ordinary cases, Kurukshetra, Haridwaar, Mathura, Kashi, Prayag, Naimisharanya and other pilgrim places are considered the most appropriate places. And eclipse day, full moon day, new moon day, sankranti, ekadashi and other auspicious times are the most appropriate times. Apart from needy people, giving to all those as prescribed in the scriptures is apt.

It is our duty to serve those who’ve helped us. So such a behavior should never be considered a part of giving. A true help can never be paid back so the least we can do is to serve them and to make them happy. If we consider that as part of giving, then we’re insulting the recipient.

Rajasik donation is one which is given with some expectation or in return for some help or with bad thoughts/actions. Expectation could be directly from the recipient, could be attain some karma points, to establish one’s reputation, to get publicity, to impress someone, etc. Giving donation to somebody with whom one is involved or expects some assistance in the future is not considered true donation – because one is doing it for one’s own good. Similarly giving to somebody because you there’s other way out – there’s some political pressure or any other kind of pressure – is of no good.

Tamasik donation is one that is given without honor, in a disrespectful manner, to an ineligible person, at inappropriate place/time.

Yagya

Just like food, yagya can also be categorized into sattvik, rajsik and tamsik.

A yagya performed according to the scriptures and without any ulterior motives is considered sattvik. The yagya should be ordained, by the scriptures, to be performed by the man of such a class. The man doing the yagya should not expect to gain wife, children, house, respect, appreciation, reputation, victory or heaven; nor should he do it to alleviate undesirable circumstances or his sorrow.

A yagya performed with faith and according to scriptures but with a motive to gain something or simply to establish a reputation irrespective of faith is considered a rajas yagya.

Tamas yagya is one which is not performed according to the scriptures, doesn’t involve any food donation and is done without any mantras, alms and faith.

Three kinds of food – II

Rajasik food, that is food liked by people having predominantly rajas guna,  is:

• bitter like neem, karela, etc.
• sour like tamarind
• salty like namkeen
• too hot
• spicy like red chilli
• dry like pop corn or anything roasted in the furnace
• daahkarak (sorry don’t know the translation, if you do please let me know) like mustard seeds

Such food causes pain, regret and diseases. For example, after having something too hot you may burn your tongue; on tasting something very spicy you may have water running from your eyes/nose; on easting something dry you may get something stuck in your throat.

Tamasik food, that is food liked by people with a dominating tamas guna, is:

• unripe or half-cooked: produce that is not ripened, food that is not cooked properly.
• devoid of any juices: food that has lost its juices because of various reasons like air, fire, etc.
• possesses a smell: like onion and garlic
• stale: which was cooked the night before or produce that was picked from the farms long back.
• uchistha – ok this is hard to explain in english. It is leftover food that has been bitten into by somebody else.

The three kinds of food

I’d always been curious about how is sattvika, rajsika and tamsik food defined. How would I ever decide whether something is sattvik? And this curiosity was fueled by the food items allowed during a fast or pooja. Onions and garlic were always a no-no and I wanted to know why. My mother told me that maybe they left a bad smell in the mouth that’s why; but I wasn’t satisfied. This was one of the questions which motivated me to read the scriptures in the very beginning – I wanted to find the answer in them. So you can well imagine the smile on my face when I came to this chapter in Gita :).

The kind of food you like is also influenced by your nature.

A sattvik man likes food that has the following characteristics:

• Increases longevity.
• Cleanses and sharpens mind.
• Improves physical as well as mental strength.
• Brings satisfaction and happiness to the heart.
• Increases the feeling of love.

Some of the food items that have the above qualities:

• Those that have pith like milk, sugar, etc.
• Oils extracted from sattvik sources and butter, ghee.
• Those that stay in the stomach for long. There are no specific recommendations but my mother always used to say that whole-wheat roti stays in your stomach. So I’m guessing whole wheat would be one such example. And one could extrapolate this to other whole grains too.
• Those that bring a pure thoughts in the mind and not dirty or impure.

Faith, Conscience and Devotion

You actions build your inherent nature and your inherent nature resides inside your conscience. Hence, your nature determines your conscience. Your conscience influences your faith and your faith, your devotion. Ultimately, its your actions which decide your faith and devotion.

I’m a little confused about this – I would’ve thought that your character determines your actions but Gita says the other way around; and it uses the verb “builds” your character. So the more I think of it the more it makes sense, one may be born with a character but one can always build it through his actions all through his life. That is what is being stressed here – your character develops based on the actions you do and your character influences your decisions on what is right and what is wrong. And this ability leads to faith in something. So the most important thing to do is to do good deeds.

Faith

Depending on his faith and following of religious teachings a man’s destiny can change.

• If a man has faith in religious teachings and follows them, then he can either do it without any desire for the fruits of his labor or otherwise. In case of former, he achieves moksha while in case of latter heaven is his destiny as he is a sattvik person.
• If he follows some religious teachings but doesn’t have faith in them then he will not get any fruits for his labor.
• If he has faith but does not follow any religious teachings for lack of any knowledge of them then he has sattva because of his faith as well as rajas and tamas guna and he will be rewarded according to his karmas.
• If he neither has faith nor follows the religious teachings then he’s a tamasik person and he will go to hell.
• If he sneers at the religious teachings then he will not get any fruits of his good deeds but he will have to bear the consequences of his bad deeds.

Divine or Demonic?

All human beings on this earth are furnished with either divine disposition or a fiendish one.

Described here are the symptoms of a man who’s disposed towards the demonic.

They have no knowledge of their duties; they do what they like, without caring about what they must and must not do.

They do not believe in the existence of the Supreme one – the one who’s the creator, generator and destroyer of the earth. To them the world was created by the union of man and woman and that is what will keep it going.

All their decisions are driven by desires and sensual satiation. They harbor desires for indulgence and vow to fulfill them however impossible it might be. Thus manifesting their ignorance.

They take refuge in worldly anxieties which have no end and will exist even on their deathbed. In their opinion, the only happiness that they can get is from worldly objects and they spend their life aggregating those.

They are trapped in hundreds of gallows of worldly desires and have thus becomes subjects to the vices of anger and sexual desires.

Their goals and achievements are marked by “I have gained object X” and “I need to gain object Y”; their thoughts are mired by “I’ve so much wealth and I need so much more”.

They think they’re supreme and have all the required powers. The world is because of them, they can do whatever they want to anybody in the entire world. Even when they give, they do so to establish their reputation and not as a deed offered to God.

Why do we get angry?

This is an excerpt from Naradapurana. It is absolutely lovely and so meaningful.

One possesses a body because of his actions

Body binds him to desires

Desires entrap him into greed

Greed enslaves him to anger

Anger destroys his virtues

Loss of virtues destructs the mind

A destructed mind commits sin.

Gita also preaches the same and it is the truth. I especially found the correlation with anger so easy to understand. If and when you get angry, spend 5 minutes trying to analyze why you got angry and you can trace it to a desire of yours that was not fulfilled. If you didn’t have a desire in the first place, you would never get angry. We get angry with our family because we expect from them. We get angry with drivers on the road because we expect them to be good drivers.

The first step towards reducing anger in your life is to absolve yourself from desires. As a normal human being, it’s hard to completely free yourself from desires but the less you have them, the more peaceful your life is. You would think that when you’ve done your duties you’ve the right to have desires/expectations from this world. Your desires/expectations will give you nothing but pain. My answer to you is – trust in God. He’s right there for you, looking at you. You will get what you deserve. If you’ve done what you were required to do, you will get what is good for you. Many a times, we say “Life is not fair”. It can only be said in jest because God is fair.

The three qualities of life

Man possesses one or more of three primary qualities (guna): saatvika, raajsika and taamsika. All three qualities lead to different behavioral patterns in a man and bind him to this life.

Saatvika guna, is the purest and healthiest of them all. It doesn’t have any vices and enlightens one’s senses and conscience. A man in whom saatvika guna dominates, has his pain and vices destroyed and attains peace of mind. Laziness doesn’t exist in his world. He no longer has any interest in this world and he devotes himself to the worship of God. However, such a man can become proud of being happy or the knowledgeable one. It is this pride which hinders his unison with God.

Raajsika guna, is manifested in the form of affection for any thing living or non-living. It leads to desires and longing. It has the same relationship with these two as a seed has to a tree. The tree is born from a seed and it is the tree that creates the seed. Similarly, rajoguna leads to desires and it is desires which gives birth to rajoguna. Such a person believes he is the does of all his actions and that he deserves the fruits for them. It is this belief that binds him to this cycle of life and death.

Taamsika guna, as I understand it, is the most inferior of all the above qualities. It’s born from ignorance, where the senses and the conscience are weak and overpowered by emotional attachments. Tamoguna is predominant in a man who has pride and attachment to his body. It leads to ignorance and ignorance causes it. It exhibits in the form of sloth, indulgence and drowsiness in a man and through them binds him to this life.

God’s reach is everywhere

God’s hands are everywhere so that anywhere on this earth when devotees make an offering to him, he can accept it.

His legs are omnipresent so that when devotees lay prostate on his feet, he can bless them.

His ears are all around so that he can listen to his devotees’ prayers wherever they are.

His mouth is everywhere, so that when devotees give him something to eat he can have it.

His eyes are all around us, there’s nothing hidden from him; he sees everything.

His forehead is everywhere so that when devotees seek his blessings by touching his forehead, he can bless them all.

The act of giving

The act of giving with wrong intentions is the most inferior.

The act of giving with selfish interests is mediocre.

The act of giving to please God is the best.

Even a tree spreads its branches far and wide to provide shade to strangers; it bears fruits to satiate the hunger of one and all. Then if a man does not give, he’s as good as dead and should be considered a sinner.

An accomplished man

How do we know an accomplished man when we see one?  He has very defined qualities.

1. He does not harbor the feeling of hatred towards any being or thing. The word hate does not exist in his dictionary.
2. The feelings of compassion and friendliness are natural to him.
3. He neither has the sense of ownership towards anything nor does he have a conceited opinion about himself. He is a down to earth person. The moment you "own" something or somebody, you've enveloped yourself with the feelings of love and hate; pride and arrogance; hurt and dismay. If somebody criticizes what you own, you feel hurt. If they praise, you feel elated and proud.
4. Though he feels pain and comfort, he does not feel joy and sorrow that emanate from them. He would feel the pain if he gets sick, but he would not be sad because of it. Similarly he would be comfortable when he is healthy but would not be joyous from it. When any good or bad thing happens they do not feel joy or sorrow because they have same emotions irrespective of whatever happens.
5. He is very forgiving. If somebody does any misdeed towards them they have no intention of punishing the person. They do not believe in blaming anybody for any incident because they believe from their heart that only God can make things happen.
6. He is always satisfied; at no moment and place does he feel dissatisfied. Nor can the lack of anything give rise to that feeling in him. A worldly man feels satisfied because of a thing and as soon as he gets that, he again starts feeling dissatisfied.
7. He has his mind, body and senses under his control.
8. His mind is determined to be devoted to God; neither pain nor any action can deter him from his determination.
9. He immerses his mind and intellectual faculties in the service of God.

These are all great qualities and when I try to imagine a person who has all these qualities, the first thought that comes to my mind is - how lucky is he! To imbibe all these qualities in our self, is a formidable task; but I think if we were to truly follow even one of these qualities, it would bring a sea of change in what we are.  

Heavenly job

The man who offers all his actions to God is different from the man who performs all actions for God and they're different from the man who sacrifices the fruits of his labor in the name of God,

The one who offers all his actions to God believes that he's simply a puppet in the hands of God; that he alone does not have the ability to perform any action but it is the power of God due to which he can do anything and everything. His senses, mind and body - all in the hands of God and they work according to what God wants them to do. Such a person can never have any attachment or sense of ownership over his actions or the results of his actions. Whatever he gets in life, be it joy or sorrow, he takes it as a gift from God.

The man who performs all his actions for God does not believe that he's a puppet in His hands; but believes that God is the supreme one who loves him and is his friend. He feels that it is his duty to serve God and to follow his orders. Thus he performs every action according to God's commandments and with the sole purpose of serving Him. Again such a person can never bear attachment towards either his actions or the results of his action.

The man who sacrifices the fruits of his labor believes neither that God is the power behind all his actions nor that he does everything for God. He believes that is the duty of mankind to work and that a man's right is limited to the performance of the work and not the outcome; that one must keep doing work in accordance with the scriptures and for the sustenance of the body but never get bound to its outcomes. Thus he sheds any attachment towards the worldly objects.

Different ways for different men - Part 2

On reading Part 1, one gets the impression that the methods advised are in some order of difficulty; but that it not true. Every man has a different belief, nature and belong to different sections of the society, hence a method may appear easier to one and difficult to another. Nor do they lead to different ends; they all have the same end - achieving God.

The first method is apt for a man who has feels the love for God straight from his heart; one who has an ardent desire to know the essence of God and would love to spend his whole life looking for the ultimate truth. This is what is natural to them.

Then there are men who have faith in God and want to engage their mind in the thoughts of the Supreme one. Such men should practice the said exercises.

Another type of men is who like to pray regularly, make donations and perform rituals. The third method is for these people. This is what is inherent in their nature.

The last method is for men who believe that God does not take any particular form and they believe in doing something for the welfare of one and all.

As we can see one must do what is natural to them; but do it from the heart, with all their faith and completely believe in what they're doing. Now that I've written it, I can see that this applies to our everyday life also. If we do some work, with complete faith and whole-heartedly we will always succeed in it. Once again I can see how Gita gives you principles for everyday life.

Different ways for different men

To unite with Him in the end, one must devote one's mind and feelings to Him. To submit your mind to God, one must understand the essence and secrets of His virtues, influence and power; and keep them in his resolve always and everywhere. To immerse your feelings Him and Him alone and nothing else one must detach oneself from all objects of senses; and at all times of only Him.

However, due to attachments resulting from ignorance men are involved in attachments to worldly objects and hence are unable to perform the exercise above.

Since not everybody has the same nature, they can't unite with Him using the same method. For different kinds of men there are different ways to achieve God.

If you can't devote your mind and feelings to Him do not despair. One who tries can also obtain Him. In whatever form of God you have the most faith and love for, you must try to devote your mind to that form. There are various means to do this and some of the most appropriate ones for common man are the following:

1. You must resolve to make an effort to devote your mind and feelings to God.
2. You must try to see God wherever your mind goes and whatever your eyes see and hence think about him.
3. You must try to steer your mind away from all other objects and concentrate on the idol/picture of the form of God that you love the most.
4. Chant "Omkar" and meditate.
5. You must try to chant his name as often as possible.
6. You must try to read scriptures again and again to understand the essence of his virtues, influence and power
7. Perform pranayama.

Any of the above performed with true faith and love will clear you of your sins, destroy all the hurdles and lead you to God. If one doesn't obtain results soon then one must not loose heart. Instead, try with increased effort.

If all the above exercises are beyond you, then all you have to do is perform every action for God and for nothing else. Behind every action of yours, there should be no self-interest, no attachment and no sense of ownership. Perform every action from your heart and to please the God; serve God through your mind, speech and actions; perform yagya, make donations and do prayers - all in the name of God and as your duty towards him.

If you think that it is difficult for you to selflessly perform every action, then all you need to do is take control over your mind and feelings and sacrifice the fruits of your actions. If you don't have control over your mind and feelings, then you'll be entrapped in indulgences and when this happens one can't escape from the desire to indulge in the fruits of one's actions. These actions include the rituals that you perform, the donations that you make, the prayers and service that you and all other actions performed as part of your duty or for your body to survive. Relinquish any attachment, any sense of ownership and any interest in the results of these actions. The actions do not include such actions as stealing, lying, infidelity, violence or any action not sanctioned by the scriptures because these are the actions that result from a man's attachment and sense of ownership.

Pray for the end; not for the means

I don't know what you thought about my subject but when it came to my mind first it almost felt as if I'm saying "pray for your end" :). That is certainly not what I've in mind!

My subject wants to convey that we should pray for what is our ultimate goal in life and not the small little things that we think we need to add to our basket on the way. If all you want from your life is to be happy; then pray for that. Not something like: "God please give me X, Y and Z so that I'm happy".

Often we pray that I get X (where X could be an object or an intangible) or that Y would happen (where Y is an event). My question is: why do we that?

Isn't all that we want is for us and our family to be happy? Then why don't we simply pray that we be happy? Why do we add clauses to our prayers? If we're praying to the supreme one then that means we believe that he has the power to grant us. Then we must also believe that whatever he does is for our benefit.

I remember that when we were in high school, some students would pray to get good scores/marks/grades. So I asked myself that why don't they just pray to God that they be happy. The answer that I got back was maybe they're too young to understand that.

So I thought of people older than those students. People in that category are praying for a good job or a good house or some such thing. I asked myself the same question and couldn't explain why they do that except that they don't know what they want from life.

How can we be so sure that getting X would make us happy? Why not make our lives simpler (and His job too :)) by simply praying for the happiness of our family. Can you imagine the power of the prayers when everyone in your family prays for the same thing?!?!

I would love to hear what everybody thinks about this!

Sins and Virtues

I read this verse in Naradapurana (this link just indicates what Narada Purana is, my source is a book by the Gita Press) and found it not only very profound but also beautiful; I've translated it in english too for the benefit of all.

अकीर्ति के समान कोई मृत्यु नहीं
क्रोध के समान कोई शत्रु नहीं
निंदा के समान कोई पाप नहीं
असूया के समान कोई अपकीर्ति नहीं
काम के समान कोई आग नहीं
राग के समान कोई बंधन नहीं
संग अथवा आसक्ति के समान कोई विष नहीं


English translation:
There is no death like ill-fame
There is no enemy like anger
There is no sin like libel
There is no stigmata like jealousy
There is no fire like desire
There is no binding like affection
There is no poison like attachment