Monday, December 22, 2008

Renouncing Renunciation


One of the Sai Austin news letters read:
Shirdi Sai Baba advised that renunciation (sanyas) is not the path for most people. If you try and renounce a bad habit, it may just get stronger and provide more temptation. So it is better to try and do some service for others each day as a means of self purification. When we serve a holy person we start to align our mind with cosmic mind. When we serve others we start to see God everywhere.
Makes a lot of sense to me. Using a similar concept, Basketball is being used as a vehicle for promoting positive habits in the inner-city kids.  When these kids do good things (like keeping their bodies fit), they will have less time to do bad things (like doing drugs).  More importantly, the positive energy gained through sports creates an upward spiral of mental and spiritual benefits.  

This concept works in many areas of our lives too. For example, most of the diets fail in the long run because they focus too much on not doing the bad things (like, eating cakes). If we ensure that we eat sufficient quantities of good foods (like greens, grains and fruit), we would gradually cut down on foods that aren't good for us. Transformation will not be quick; but it will happen slowly and surely. A good positive step for a better health in my opinion is, drinking the recommended 8 x 8 oz glasses of water every day.

4 comments:

ShastriX said...

Fully agree with you, Gopa.

When i drive on the roads of Bangalore, find that the middle path is the best; the outside lanes are always prone to accidents :-)

Captcha: hidines

Gopa said...

Thanks Raama. If I remember chemistry correctly, electrons in the inner orbitals are stable. The outer electrons are prone for affinities and forming all kinds of bonds! I guess, just like in the real world.

mvt said...

Gopa,If you ask me, its true to the core. One needs to keep their body exercised along with good food. Occasional wandering off the diet is common as long as the mind (nucleous) is stable.

Rama,
logically, the middle lane appears to be safe... until some lunatic in the faster lane or a weirdo from slow erlane try something ambitious ;)

Gopa said...

Thanks vamsi (I take it that it is you, from initials "MVT"