Some people live very fulfilling lives that they did their best
by Dada Vedaprajinananda

Namaskar

Some people live very fulfilling lives and when they depart
from the world have the satisfaction of knowing that they did
their best. For many others, success in the game of life eludes
them. The difference between success and failure is often in
having proper information and guidance about what should be done
and what should not be done.

So, what is the information and guidance that can make the
difference between ultimate success and failure? According to
the sage Veda Vyasa (the reputed author of many of India's
ancient epics and mythological texts) "doing good to other's is
virtue and doing harm to others is vice." My guru, Shrii Shrii
Anandamurti, has said, that of all the eighteen mythological
texts of Vyasa, this one sentence on virtue and vice is the most
important.

Another sage, Shankaracarya, carries this further and advises
people to "do good actions day and night," 24 hours. If anyone
follows this advice then there is little chance that his or her
life can go wrong.

However, it is not always easy to keep engaged in activities
that will bring about the welfare of ourselves and others. This
world is a battlefield between two tendencies: a force that
pushes us and attracts us towards knowledge and union with the
Ultimate Reality and a force which pulls us towards ignorance
and separation from the Supreme Consciousness.

This battle is going on in the world and in our own minds.
Sometimes you may have a thought to do something that is
obviously good, something that will help you to develop or that
will be helpful to others. And the next moment you may have a
desire to do something that you know will end up in your
degradation. This is natural, everyone experiences this. The
trick is to always choose and carry out the actions that will
bring about your welfare and the welfare of others.

In this respect I would like to leave you with one final piece
of advice from the sages that can help you to always make the
right choice. This one originates in the ancient Indian epic,
The Ramayana.

The Ramayana is the story of a struggle between a king named
Rama, who is taken by many to be an incarnation of God, and his
adversary Ravana. Ravana was a king who kidnapped the wife of
Rama which set off a long war. In the end Rama defeats Ravana in
battle. Good in the form of Rama overcomes evil who is
personified by Ravana. However there is an interesting twist at
the end of the story. Rama goes to the dying Ravana and says to
him "You are a senior person, can you give some advice that will
be useful to us and future generations."

Ravana replied by telling about his own life. He said that as a
youth he had some good ideas about how he could help people
reach Heaven. But he postponed doing anything about them. On the
other hand, later in his life he got the idea to kidnap Rama's
wife, and this he did immediately, and it led him to defeat and
death. So, he said, my advice is "good actions should be done
immediately and bad actions should be postponed."

There it is; the ultimate piece of advice. Don't delay in doing
good actions (who knows you may not get a chance in the future)
and if you get an idea that you want to do something bad, just
say in your mind "OK, but I will do it some other time." If you
keep postponing it, you will probably not do it.

I wrote a song about it and the chorus goes like this:

"If you've got something good, do it today.
Gonna do something bad, make a delay.
This is what the wise ones say."

About The Author: Dada Vedaprajinananda is a senior teacher
with the Ananda Marga Meditation Society,
 <http://www.anandamarga.org/> http://www.anandamarga.org . He is the author
of books, numerous
magazine articles and a singer-songwriter as well. You can read
his articles and hear his songs at  <http://www.dadaveda.com/>
http://www.dadaveda.com