Acharya Tulsi
Life is a song, if one can sing it; life is an opportunity of one can make use of it. Life is a duty, if one can fulfil it. Life is an adventurous journey, if one can be a fearless traveller. Life is a mystery, if one can explore it. The question that arises is how do we make life worth living? Man has now entered the era of "Science of Living", which must not be considered equivalent to the science of living beings- Biology, as it does not explain the mysteries of the living world. It has a direct relation to the lifestyle of human beings. The one who wants to learn the art of living must be well versed with the principles of science of living. Science of living is not just a lesson it's an experience. It is not bookish knowledge; it is application & practice worded in the wisdom of Saint Kabir. (Hindi Version)
People can become graduated educated & learned by writing exams after by-hearting humungous books but it need not provide them wisdom. A wise man always lips the language of love & affection. A person might win the hearts of the audience with his/her knowledgeable lectures but he/she is SURE to win the world over with a sweet and affectionate tongue. Hence a practical life holds more importance than knowledge from books and degrees on paper. Only the person who believes in practical life can pursue the science of living. One who has no knowledge about, who has not read about, who does not understand the science of life, can never root his/her belief in its value. Only after experiencing and observing any element can that element be imbibed.
Quest for Truth is Important
Science of living is not an orthodox knowledge; it is not a routine of education. It relates to the truths of life basing its value roots in "Appanaa Sacchamesejja"- meaning the quest for truth by self. The truth is universal & unique. Only a true wise can obtain it. Until we are capable to consume the complete and composite truth, we need to manage with the truth scattered in various segments of our life. Our ancestors travelled on the quest of the universal truth and were successful in their odyssey. It is the truth learnt from them that becomes the base of the way we live our lives. But the truth discovered by others becomes stale; when we cannot digest stale food, why compromise with truth?
Tirthankar can see the truth. They travel in the quest for the universal truth & they continue their odyssey till they attain their objective. The truth they learn is through their personal experience and not from books of knowledge. What they preach is penned in the books of wisdom by their prime followers known as Gandhars. In any given era of time and area there cannot exist two tirthankar and that also marks the reason why their truths are also different. They never preach the truth of other tirthankar. The truth discovered by Lord Parshwanath was never preached by Lord Mahaveer. He always said "I have seen, understood and experienced, that's why I am saying this!"
We are not tirthankar hence we follow the truth discovered by others. We follow the truth discovered by Lord Mahaveer and will always do, but why do we need to shut the doors on our quest for the universal truth? We need to follow tirthankar, but along with that we also need to search for our own truth and experience it. Lord Mahaveer never mentioned that he has discovered every truth in the universe. He believed in searching one's own truth. The more one searches, the more he/she gets. It is such an amazing and widespread belief. On this basis if we are always alert on our quest for truth, one day or the other that prestigious passage will give way and the unknown will transform into the known. This is only possible if we are willing to discover. People script numerous theses after extensive research but all their research seems more of a collection, lacking the element of research in it. One can obtain degrees through such collective work but the universal truths remain undiscovered.
Integration of Science and Spirituality
The objective of science of living is to develop spirituo-scientific personalities. Spirituality & science complement each other; hence their simultaneous growth is important. During the yogakshem years, a song used to be sung before the spiritual lectures. A paragraph of that song is as follows:
Kori adhyatmikta yug ko tran nahi de paegi,
Kori vaigyanikta yug ko pran nahi de paegi,
Dono ki preeti judegi, yugdhara tabhi mudegi.
Kya-kya pana hai, pehle ank lo.Though there are tremendous opportunities for spiritual growth, it alone is not enough for a human. On the other hand science is blinding people with its expanse, but again it alone cannot secure the existence of human race. Only when spirituality & science come together, the common consensus could be shifted. This is also the reason why Science of Living stresses upon individualist spiritual & scientific growth.
It won't be considered a hyperbole to accept that spirituality possesses enormous powers. To understand & imbibe the secrets of spirituality one has to dive into great depths. One who has his faith in Lord Mahaveer would say, Bhante Antate (Oh Lord! your words are the truth, meaningful & the rest is completely meaningless!) But the one who is a materialist would find spirituality a waste of time & meaningless against wealth & fame.
In 1994, I visited Delhi, where I had the opportunity to meet numerous politicians, social activists & educationists. I shared my thoughts with them, discussed development of true national character. They relished the conversations and set objectives to my array of thoughts. They even offered to support and encouraged me to initiate, but none offered to work together - Hand in Hand. It surprised me more when I heard some of them claiming that the situation has gone out of hands & nothing could be done about it in the country. After witnessing this pessimism I lost myself thinking as to what has happened to people? Whether our efforts will bear results? If nothing is supposed to happen then why spend valuable resources of time and efforts in this process? But changing directions is also not going down the throat.
Hard Work Sculpts a Personality
It isn’t easy to develop a spirituo-scientifically balanced personality because it encourages change & transformation, which is the most difficult part of the process. Those who are willing to transform consume a lot of time and invest a lot of efforts. In such a scenario how is it possible to make the process effective & influential among total strangers to this concept? With such questions populating my thoughts I would still risk an experiment as I believe in a practical life. Every experiment bears results at any cost. Only through continuous practical application can one expect desired results.
Father William, president of National Church, learnt about the principles of ANUVRAT when he got in contact with me. He became an ANUVRATI after complete understanding and developing deep faith. He practiced Anuvrat with utmost alertness and shared his experiences as and when any opportunity raised. He was an excellent orator and in Mumbai he shared a story during the Anuvrat meeting which denies deletion from my memories.
There was a vessel filled with curd, the housewife forgot to cover the lid. Two frogs slipped into the vessel. One of them got scared and slowly slipped to the bottom of the vessel drowning & dying in the curd. The other frog thought if he has to die, why not die trying. He started beating his hand and legs continuously which started skimming butter from the curd in the vessel. When the butter started rising to the top in lumps, the frog used one such lump of butter to stay afloat. In the meanwhile the housewife returned & pulled this frog out-Alive!
This is only a story but it encourages working hard. Every human being must believe in hard work and have patience for the results to show up on their prefixed times. Accordingly we need to invest our collective energies and efforts towards building a balanced spirituo-scientific personality. It is important to note that science of living must be applied to bring out & sculpt the hidden possibilities in any young mind as it is a part of personality development. Why should there be any doubts on the success of that experiment which is being conducted with utmost sincerity and faith!!
