| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| ACHIEVING THE GOAL - THE YOGA OF CONSTANCY |
| Eknath
said, "Now you know the reason, don't you, why our lives are
absolutely sinless? When Death, the lion, stands always before us,
how can evil thoughts appear? Even to sin, one needs freedom from
anxiety. Constantly thinking of death is means of avoiding sin. If
death is always staring him in the face, with what strength can man
commit sin?
6. But man tries to push away the thought of death. The French Philosopher Pascal says in his Pensees ("Thoughts"), "As men are not able to fight against death, misery and ignorance, they have taken it into heads, in order to be happy, not to think of them at all. To be happy he would have to make himself immortal; but not being able to do so, it has occurred to him to prevent himself from thinking of death." "Death is always standing behind us. But man's effort to forget it goes on all the time. He never considers how to live remembering death." Man does not like even the word, "death." If at dinner the word is uttered, we cut it short saying, "How inauspicious!" But every step we take is a step that takes us towards death. Once we buy a ticket to Bombay and sit in the train, though we keep sitting, the train will carry us to Bombay and leave us there. At birth we take a ticket to the destination, death. Whether we sit still or run about, death is certain. Whether we think of it or do not think of it, it will come. However uncertain all other things are, death is certain. As the sun sets on the western hill, it has devoured a portion of our life. |
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