Acharya Tulsi
A teacher asked his students, “Where does the sun go at night?” A student replied, “Sir, the sun does not go anywhere, if disappears in the darkness of night.” Though the statement of the student is not correct, despite it carries meaning. If darkness envelops you even your eyes prove useless. If the darkness outside us makes us so helpless than one can easily imagine how darkness that prevails within us can cripple us. As long as the darkness that exists within is not removed, we shall be unable to identify our objective.
Light and darkness both co-exist in this phenomenal world. Man welcomes light but abhors from darkness. In order to remove darkness around him, he can lit lamps, but is not ready to light the light of spirituality to remove the darkness that prevails within him.
There are flowers as well as thorns in our life. He is exhilarated to find flowers and is disgusted to come across thrones. The thorns that lay on our way can be brushed aside; alliteratively, we can have shoes to avoid their pinches. We can change the thorny path to avoid the thorns if we want. But who cares for the thorns that have cropped within us?
Happiness and sorrow are two aspects of the same coin. If the ultimate happening of happiness and sorrow did not take place, man’s life would have been very difficult. Sorrow inspires us. In spite of that man wishes for happiness alone and tries to keep as much distance as he can from sorrow. When he is happy, he finds meaning in his life and gets depressed when he finds sorrow. To remove sufferings of our body we can take medicines or consult a physician, but for the sufferings of the soul we have no such fast remedy.
It is deceptive to think that the physical light can remove the darkness that prevails within. Those who depend entirely on others and seek help from them can never attain their goal. Conversely, those who keep faith in themselves, life on their strength make their path easier. For them the path becomes their destination and success knocks at their door. They are able to be the light for themselves.
I firmly believe that the light of Anuvrat can brighten our path and the broom of goodwill can sweep away all the thorns lying on the way. Similarly, the sandalwood paste of perseverance can calm down the smouldering fire within us. In order to attain these virtues, we need not roam here and there. For this, we have simply to realize our potentialities and apply them properly and without having any selfish design. Such practice would lead to self-realization and a self-realized person can be a guiding star not for himself but for the entire humanity.
