Rays of Dharma

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Divine Knowledge Society

Page 12

Chapter Spiritual Pursuit
All the great philosophers have said that the sea of worldly life is too deep to be fathomed and that during the worldly wandering, it is rare to get the human birth. Since we have obtained it, we should undertake the spiritual pursuit during this life and terminate the cycle of birth and death. When a child is born, the first thing that needs to be known is how long it is going to live; thinking of education, reputation, wealth, etc. are worthwhile only if one is to live long enough.
As a blind man has no concept of light, the ignorant one fails to realize the significance of human life. If we come across even a slight pain, we can express it at length, but the animals have to bear the same silently. We can complain of the pain and can even take measures to remove it. That is the distinctive feature of human life. If one therefore wants to understand the worth of human life, he should look at the animals or at those, who are not blessed with the comforts and amenities that are accessible to us.
But instead of looking down, people tend to look up and become unhappy. They forsake the happiness that they are having and feel miserable by noticing the better standards of others. In fact, happiness does not lie in any object; it is the perception that makes one happy or unhappy. Such perception varies from person to person and from