Be Good And Do Good

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There is a very important exhortation of Swami Vivekananda, which teaches us how to combat evils in society and make our lives peaceful. He says, 'If one millionth part of the men and women who live in this world simply sit down and for a few minutes say, "You are all God, O ye men and O ye animals and living beings, you are all the manifestations of the one living Deity!" the whole world will be changed in half an hour. Instead of throwing tremendous bomb-shells of hatred into every corner, instead of projecting currents of jealousy and of evil thought, in every country people will think that it is all He. He is all that you see and feel. How can you see evil until there is evil in you? How can you see thief, unless he is there sitting in the heart of your heart?. Be good, and evil will vanish for you. The whole universe will thus be changed.'

The above exhortation of Swamiji illustrates that divinity is present in all of us. But this fact has to be brought to our constant awareness;we should be conscious about it. He proclaims, 'My ideal, indeed, can be put into a few words, and that is to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every moment of life.'

This manifestation occurs through a transformation in us. Swamiji's ideas reveal a process through which we can bring about this transformation. The first step is a re-orientation of the mind to this invaluable truth. One has to believe that not only one is divine, but also every living being is essentially divine. The soul of everyone is pure, good, beautiful and blissful. It is infinite and eternal. It is free from all bondage, limitation, and sorrow.

Secondly, we are always required to keep our mind engaged in high and noble thoughts. Importance of thought in shaping the personality cannot be overemphasized. Says Swamiji: 'Fill yourselves with the ideal; whatever you do, think well on it. All your actions will be magnified, transformed, deified, by the very power of the thought. If matter is powerful, thought is omnipotent. Bring this thought to bear upon your life, fill yourselves with the thought of your almightiness, your majesty, and your glory.'

It further means that we should desist from sending any hateful thoughts. The rationale goes like this: as our essential nature is divine, our thoughts should be pure; they should not harbour hatred for anybody. In verse 13 of the 12th chapter, the Gita enumerates some virtues that one can contemplate upon: 'Friendly and compassionate to all and without any touch of hatred; devoid of possessiveness and arrogance; ever content and contemplative; alike in happiness and misery; self-controlled and firm in conviction; dedicated to Me with all his heart and all his soul—dear to Me is a man who is thus devoted.'

In order to remove hatred, Sri Krishna says, one has to cultivate virtues such as friendliness, compassion, forgiveness and elimination of egoism etc. Service done with a feeling of spiritual oneness is a way to remove hatred. Selfless service generates love, respect and deep sympathy for others. This attitudinal change is a source of great joy in us.

All the great saints down the ages have taught through scriptures only two things: If we make others happy happiness will be ours, and if we make others unhappy we are inviting miseries for ourselves. This is based on the universal law of 'action brings reaction'; if a ball is thrown against a wall, it will rebound with the same force. If we hate others, hatred returns to us. Similarly when we love others, love comes back to us.

We surely want our own good. It is, therefore, prudent to prepare ourselves to imbibe these virtues. A paradigm shift in one's thinking is necessary to do that. Swamiji says: 'It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful, our thoughts makes things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in proper light.' Learning to see things means to see the ever-present connection that exists between our thoughts and attitudes, and the type of life that we live. Our mind makes the world we live in. Swamiji's teaching of 'Be and Make' is of great significance in this respect. For what we 'make' depends on what we are.

About the author
Swami Sudarshanananda is a monk of Ramakrishna Order, living at its Kanpur centre.