Daily Archives: January 24, 2011

2011
01/24

Category:
Kabir
Philosophy

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Conscience is still paramount!

“Have you ever noticed how refreshingly fun it is to be around positive thinking people who seem to naturally maintain a positive attitude? No matter how bad the circumstances, negativity never even enters their minds, let alone crosses their lips to form negative, faithless words!”
– Positive Attitude Tips – by Karen Wolf
about.com – http://christianity.about.com/od/practicaltools/a/positivethinkin.htm

Kabir – The couplet
????? ???? ???? ??, ???? ?? ?? ????? |
???? ??? ????? ???, ?? ??? ???? ????? ||

transliterated:
Chandan jaisa sadhu hai, sarp hi sab sansar |
Taake ang lipta rahe, man mein nahi vikar ||

Translation:
The realized person is like the sandal tree, the rest of the world a snake |
Though the snake wraps itself around the tree, the tree loses not its scent or become poisonous ||

My understanding:

Today, more than ever before in history, the temptation to take the easy path, the quick pickings, the short-cut, the quick cheat, is all around us. Google is full of tips on the quick win.

However, this is where the innate goodness of man and our desire to do things the right way wins, even now. While I will not say I have never taken shortcuts (I have, very often), I always stop short of doing that which is wrong – at least by my definition. That little voice, our conscience, is the sandal tree in the couplet above.

The snake is my desire, my ambition, my jealousy. The snake is always with me – but so is my conscience. And I am happy to say that the conscience is alive, well and healthy!

Every time we take that extra miniscule moment to listen to , pay attention to that voice in our head that we know is the conscience, the sandal tree keeps growing and flowering. Water it, feed it, and watch life prosper!