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The one thing worth living for is to keep one’s soul pure. Marcus Aurelius

An oft quoted line is ‘To err is human, to forgive divine’. How true and how applicable to me will be the immediate thought that comes to mind. As human beings, we have been given the gift of discernment that is the power to choose. Unfortunately, this power comes with choices that are tough to accept, challenging and apparently not too rewarding, while the alternatives are tempting, alluring and quite devilishly pleasurable. This leads us to a quandary and the decision making is then based on immediate gratification; but fraught with risks of illegality, moral turpitude and guilt.

 Very often our choices in life are dictated by compulsions of weak morals, peer pressure, our personal failings, lust for power, money and material wealth. While we all have ideals, quite often we mould our ideals to suit our selfishness and justify our choices in life and pacify our conscience. The niggling feeling that all is not well, keeps nagging us; but thick skinned as we are, we ignore it and resort to bargaining with the almighty. The techniques of bargaining are bizarre and insane but by making ridiculous offerings (monetarily a pittance of the gigantic ill gotten wealth), participating in rituals with a fervor the gods would be envious of or by going on pilgrimages to the holy shrines (all in 5 star comfort), these devotees hope to make their conduct pure and buy back their peace of mind.

 On the other extreme, are the genuinely devout; they who seem to radiate love, peace and happiness. Some are rich beyond compare, yet soft spoken, well mannered and modest. Others are poor in material wealth but rich in faith, hope and strong in their belief in a just eternal reward. Yet the vast majority of us fall somewhere in between. Does this mean that we have no hope of salvation or that our earthly life is in vain? Fortunately for us, we are also blessed with the option of seeking forgiveness and we can begin with a clean slate. While the Catholics have the sacrament of confession, the Hindus believe that a bath in the sacred Ganges will suffice and the Muslims perform the Haj with a similar hope and a new beginning.  If you are prepared to trust yourself and err less, you will never need divine intervention for a pure soul has but one goal – peace of mind! What more does anyone want?

Remember: The sick do not ask if the hand that smoothes their pillow is pure, nor the dying care if the lips that touch their brow have known the kiss of sin.  Oscar Wilde

 Try these:

  1.  Outline the actions/ thoughts/ expressions of the last month, which make you embarrassed, guilty and /or apologetic. Could you have handled matters differently then? What prevented you from doing so then? Do you still worry about some of these deeds even now?
  2.  Are there people whom you have hurt and feel the need to apologize? What has prevented you from apologizing; is it your ego, fear of the other person’s reactions, embarrassment to you or your belief that the other person deserved it?

 This post is courtesy www.actspot.com

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Bobby Jacob

Bobby Jacob

‘ He hopes to have a positive influence on his readers through his blog posts’

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