Lt Col R K Langar
One way of looking at life is that life is unpredictable and we have no choice but to react as we face different situations. We often say that we have to do what society is doing. But when we fill up our inside by manifesting the divine virtues inherent in us ( ourAtma is a fraction of God ) than we realize that what ever we do, it is with our choice. Even if we do a wrong act we give approval to do it and we cannot say that we were forced to do it due to outer temptations and circumstances. When I say I am leading a life as I want to live what it means to that I have a free will to decide my courseof action irrespective of outer situation, or circumstances. Free will has been bestowed upon human beings by God since we have an intellect to reflect and discriminate between right and wrong and then use our choice based on our free will to take the right course of action. That we have a free will is authenticated in Bhagavad Gita when at the end of His teachings Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that Arjuna should reflect fully on what has been taught to him and act as he chooses. The Gita also says that in all our actions of body, speech and mind there is one non human factor called Daivam or destiny or fate over which we have no control.But that does not mean that we have no free will or choice. Our past karmas which we perform based on our choice decide where we are born- our social status whether we are born in a poor or rich family. Once we are born and grow up we have freedom of choice, based on our free will, to act as we choose.
React or response
Life is a transaction between ourselves and world and we cannot escape to respond (whether we do it properly or improperly) to outer conditions that we face in day to day living. Here we have two choices before us. One is that we react to outer conditions without giving any thought and without realizing what would be the result of our reaction. It is like if some one tells us some thing which we donot like, we shout back at him without analysing why he has said so.Such reaction canaggrevate the situation which could prove harmful for us. Reacting to a situation spontaneously means we are hollow from inside. The other choice before us is that we respond to outer situation that we face without reacting on it and take a decision using intellect as to what should be our reaction to the situation and then act accordingly. In this case you have, so to say, stepped back from the situation and become an observer to reflect on the situation without directly involving yourself. Here you gain time to give your reaction after analysing what should be the right course for you. Those who are aware of their good qualities or virtues inside they always respond and never react. Man with a developed intellect shall ever exercise his choice to approve or disapprove, give or withhold his consent or various types of actions which he is required to undertake while living in the world. When we develop or manifest our spiritual nature we shall neither react nor submit to outer problems but use our choice on how to deal with them. If your react, you may later regret. On the other hand if you reflect and respond you would neither regret nor blame yourself for any of your actions.
Developing a right choice
Our choice depends upon our free will and our right choice depends upon right use of our free will. Free will does not mean do what you like. Using free will in such manner will always land you in trouble. Right use of free will can only be exercised when you have freedom from ignorance. To ensure that we donot use our free will in a wrong way we should be morally sound. Now your free will will give you a right choice. Take an example of information which your senses give to your mind and without using your intellect you take a decision based on temptation, which you may repent later. Mind can easily be tempted but not the intellect. Therefore use your intellect to decide which is the right course of action. This underlines that we should always use our intellect to use our choice and our intellect should be refined and spiritually developed to decide what to do and what not to do.
Choice and desires
Desires constitute a motivation factor for us to work. While living in the world one develops a number of desires. Most of them are worldly desires which are harmful to our spiritual evolution. To decide which desire is beneficial to us and which is not we have to use our right choice to entertain only those desires which move us on the spiritual path. Desires to teach moral values, desires to help the needy, desires to spread the teachings of our saints and scriptures are all noble desires which should be entertained. We have to reduce our desires in the first instance, upgrade desires and substitute worldly desires with spiritual desires. This would help us in our spiritual growth. As far as possible we should divinise our desires.
Choice and thoughts
The world is a mixture of good and bad. While living in the world we may some times get influenced by bad things which could produce bad thoughts. Here again we should use or choice to change our thoughts towards positivity and divinity. It is equally important that we set a goal in life based on higher values of life so that our thoughts, when we engaged in some activity, automatically lean towards our elevated goal of life. One must understand that man is not a machine which works mechanically. Man has many choices which are ever available to him. Higher is our state of consciousness more choices we will have. This enables us to select a right choice for furthering our goal of life. The other thing to remember is that all types of information should not be allowed to become a cause of your thoughts. Information that we gather from situations around us or from what we read about worldly life through newspapers should be filtered, so that degraded information can be outrightly rejected. When you choose your thoughts, you take change of your life. But if you say you have no choice, then you are ignorant as well as empty from inside.
Conclusion
To make a right choice is our foremost task which can resolve our problems. To choose wisely between our option should be given a high priority in life. For this we must have a clear vision and understanding of our own nature and the means available to us to divinize our nature in order to fulfil our spiritual goal.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
