Control Senses And Be The Master

There is no happiness without pain and again happiness has got no value without pain. Na Sukha Labhyathe Sukham. Happiness will not come from happiness; but only from pain. We know the value of standing in shade only after roaming in the hot day sun.

In any field - spiritual, ethical, moral, worldly - a man is successful only after passing through the crucible of difficulties. Under no circumstances, did Harischandra give up the truth. Because of this commitment to truth he earned the name "Sathya" Harischandra. The five year old child Prahlada, with the love of God in his heart defied his mighty father and has become immortal. One has to undergo all kinds of difficulties before one can attain eternal bliss. Pleasure is an interval between two pains.

Today's youth should earn reputation by proper utilisation of eyes, ears and tongue. Unfortunately today's youth are seeing all that which should be ignored. Today's youth have constantly shifting eyes, like that of a crow. A crow does not have double eyed vision since its beak is long. Are these youngsters filling their stomachs by this kind of looks? By adopting this kind of looks, youth are accumulating a lot of sin. They forget that one day all this will come back to them. Good look is praised as Sudhrusti, Sunethram, Sudarsanam. Youth today should develop this kind of looks.

Second thing is tongue. One should know when to smile and when not to smile. Laughter is of two types. One is Hasan and the other is Prahasan where the former being normal, sweet smile and the latter being loud laughter which is very bad and offensive. Draupadi suffered due to Prahasan though she was not the culprit. One gets bad name by abnormal and unwanted laughter and one with bad name cannot stay with Divinity. So, you should keep your laughter under control.

When you act against God's command, you will be far off from Him. Not only this, He will not even look at your face. When you have lost respect, name, property, how can you be near God. So you have to develop your character. You should make efforts to develop equal mindedness.

Laughter also creates confusion and anger as it happened in the case of Draupadi, when she laughed neither sarcastically nor in shame when Bhishma was teaching the principles of Dharma to Pandavas (this was after Arjuna felled him with his arrows and Bhishma was resting on the bed of arrows. The war was over and all the remaining royalty, sages and scholars, Vidura, Krishna assembled around the venerable grandfather to hear words of wisdom from his lips). Pandavas could not tolerate this incomprehensible laughter and mistook Draupadi. Each of them started staring at her, showing anger in their faces. Bhishma, who knew the fine character of Draupadi, pacified them by saying that she would not have laughed without sufficient reason and called her to his side and asked her the reason for this unusual laughter. Draupadi then spoke out the truth "Grandfather, you very well know that my husbands are the very embodiments of Dharma and you are teaching them the same truths which they have already practiced. You were with the Kauravas and became their Commander in Chief and yet you never told them these good words. Seeing this irony, I smiled". What Draupadi spoke was very correct. Bhishmacharya then said "You have spoken correctly. I was serving the Kauravas and ate their food. This bad blood (the result of bad food i.e. food eaten from the ill gotten and adharmic wealth of Kauravas), had suppressed all my Dharmas deep inside me. Today, due to the arrows of your husband (Arjuna) all that bad blood has washed out and the Dharmas have started coming out". Intake of proper food is also important as it determines our thoughts, words and actions. Bhishma had to suffer from unavoidable support to Duryodhana as he was under him, eating his food which led him to wrong decision in fighting for Kauravas.

Draupadi's character, nobility and virtue were so wonderful that Lord Krishna had declared that she is a better pativratha than either Sathyabhama or Rukmini. Krishna praised her by saying that Draupadi never said no to her husbands, performed all the duties without ever protesting, and was content with whatever was available. Draupadi who was a product of fire was very pure and had surrendered everything to Krishna. When Durvasa came with his thousands of disciples as a guest to the residence of Pandavas , Dharmaraja and Draupadi could not think of how to treat the guests. On the one hand they had finished the food and there was no food left. On the other hand the wrath of Durvasa was very well known. Meanwhile the sage and his disciples went to the river for the ritual bath before food.

Draupadi decided that Krishna alone can save them and prayed fervently to Him. That time Krishna came to their house as if He had started on the journey a long while ago and had only dropped in by coincidence. Acting as though He was very hungry, He asked Draupadi for food. Draupadi then told Krishna that there was nothing left and that they were in a predicament as to how to feed the thousands of disciples of Durvasa. Krishna persisted and asked Draupadi to at least get the vessel in which the food was cooked. Obeying His command she brought the vessel and He found nothing but a small green leaf. He ate the small leaf with relish and immediately not only His stomach was full but that of Durvasa and his disciples also. They did not even return to the Pandava's ashram and went away from the river. When God is satisfied, the whole world will be satisfied. When God denies you , then nobody will accept you. When God says "Yes", then everybody will say "Yes". Thyagaraja also declared, if I have Your anugraha, all Grahas will be under my control. Develop equanimity, chant God's name and win the grace of God.