An honest person must empower himself with the unflinching hope that better times will follow, says Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji
The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads everywhere, said Acharya Chanakya. If we ponder over this quote we may realise that he was right because our acts of kindness, generosity, strength and integrity never fail. In today’s world, many of us find it tough to see the good in ourselves and in others. We prefer to talk about our weaknesses and not our strengths while highlighting our vices. Perhaps this has to do with our childhood when we were told by our parents or relatives to not blow our own trumpet. Or maybe, we learned to easily identify our failures by watching and listening to others and thereby picked up the habit of seeing only the weaknesses of others. Or maybe we grew up with someone whose approach towards life was negative. A question that comes to mind is — which sensible person would choose to ignore the positive and accentuate the negative? Would any of us consciously choose to be a negative person? Not really.
What most of us seldom recognise is a simple principle that what you see in others is what you create within yourself. As the old saying goes ‘what you spot is what you got’. So, if you didn’t have the tendency that you see in others what you have within your personality, you wouldn’t spot it in ‘the other’. That’s why it is essential that we find the good — however small within ourselves — tend to it, nurture it and nourish it just the way we would do to the plants. Remember, when we focus on the positive within ourselves, we give it a life, permission to grow and to get restored in our nature. Most of us don’t realise that the good has been there all along but it was simply out of our sight and awareness. The idea that ‘where your attention goes, energy flows and where your energy flows, things grow’ is now somewhat clichéd. But the principle holds at all levels. Hence, to see the positive, the goodness, the virtue in others is to empower what you see in them. It adds a little of your life energy to their life.
Mahatma Gandhi had said, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’. So, if you would like others to be good, better and great, then be good, better and great yourself. But, what we see today is sad. The world is more conducive to those who are manipulative and chase rewards than to those toiling hard. In such a scenario many people get disheartened and start asking questions like — what is the point of being good in a bad world? Many of us have come to believe that good gets lost or remains ignored.
History is replete with innumerable examples of times when the bad seemed to be all-pervasive when powerful conquerors looted and trapped the masses in an undignified life. And yet, from these very masses emerged a small courageous group of awakened people who led a revolution against injustice and finally turned the tables on the oppressors. But of course, all acts of goodness don’t amount to a revolution, for they do not always create winds of change. Nevertheless, they work like a cool breeze in a hot desert or a drizzle on parched land. All of us have had an experience where we had lost all hope in everything and everyone around us. And then one act of kindness by someone somewhere ignited a ray of hope. So, what we need to understand is that no goodness is wasted. It may go unheeded at times and could be overpowered by negative forces but is never wasted, for sure.
We all know the story of the little bird that filled her beak with water from a pond and headed for the woods that were on fire. While she was at it, a spectator asked the tiny creature what was the point of her efforts, for the small droplets would not douse the huge flames. She quipped, “When I die, and my life’s record is being read out, my name will appear in the list of those who tried to put out the flames and not those who sparked it or did nothing about it.” We must remember that there is a law of cause and effect that guides every action in the universe. And what a person does unto anyone, he does unto himself. So, while a negative action piles debt on a person, a positive act is an investment for a good future. And unless one has unshakable faith in the sanctity of this law, one would be forced to succumb to the prevailing hostile environment.
If goodness can survive through troubled times, it can be sure to bloom fully when favourable circumstances arrive. So, an honest person must hold on to his virtue with courage and patience in testing times. He must empower himself with the unflinching hope that as night is followed by day, better times will inevitably follow. So, keep the faith until the new day arrives.
