Before You Do Anything

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E-Pao! Essay - Before You Do Anything

By: Konjengbam Candle *

Now-a-days the people of Manipur have started answering cleverly. When I asked the people of Manipur, Whom do you, love the most in this world? Their answer is 'I love myself very much'. But when I asked, How much do you love yourself? They don't have the answer for this. They are confused how to answer.

Then why do they gave the exact correct answer. They know the exact correct answer is 'I love myself very much'. If they don't love themselves. From where this answer came? The answer didn't come from their conscience, it isn't within them. It comes from newspaper, magazine and they heard from other people saying and vice versa.

If they have answered it by their own and not influenced from any other agents, the situation of Manipur will not have been like this. I don't want to pin point and say but each and every people of Manipur is responsible for what is happening in our lovely Manipur. If you love yourself purely from the inner heart, you will not do anything which will be hurting others.

As stated by Gautama Buddha, "He who loves himself should injure none". Instead of blaming to the other people, first love yourself from the depth of your inner heart and then see to whom you would like to blame, how the life is ... To love and understand others has been an ideal practised by millions over the decades. You cannot love others unless you first love yourself, says Sri Bhagavan.

Uptill my knowledge not even a single great author of this world have written any exact book on "How to Love Ourselves" yet. Not only this even the great spiritual leaders of this world doesn't know how to teach the people "How to Love Ourselves".

If you can give the exact correct answer, Why can't you love yourself? "A life without introspection is not worth living", asserted Socrates in around 400 BC. So, remember every great journey is to be started with one single step. There should be a way to love ourselves. 'If there is a destination there will be a path'.

Newton wasn't the only person nor he was the first person in the world on whose head an apple fell. Yet, it was only him who immediately grasped the meaning of gravity after this experience. When Einstein heard that a painter had fallen from the roof, unlike others he asked the painter how he felt while he was falling down.

The painter's reply that he felt weightless propelled Einstein into formulating his General Theory of Relativity. Both Newton and Einstein and countless other discoverers of truth produced great ideas from everyday observations because their minds were in a state of Preparedness. So, even if there was someone else, other than Newton and Einstein, they would have received the knowledge provided as they had a prepared mind.

Thinking deeply about something helps one discover profound truths even though they are dreaming and had they felt it in their dreams. Kekule saw the structure of the Benzene molecule in a dream. Gandhi too got the idea of undertaking the Dandi March from a dream. "Imagination is more important than knowledge" as stated by Albert Einstein. So mental preparedness helps us discover everything.

Mental preparedness is achieved through hard work and great discipline and of course you must be honest to yourself. Knowledge comes only to those who pursue it vigorously. Hence the saying that God helps only those who help themselves is very true. Have you all forgotten that you are the architect of your own future?

When we find it difficult to love ourselves we find it very difficult to love others truely with all our heart because we tend to judge others with the same feeling we judge ourselves, with the same conditions we are in. It becomes difficult for us to accept love from others because we can't create the conditions for self-love, we tend to feel that we are not.

A shortage of self-love also tends to pose a major obstacle in creating the life we hope for. And one must also know that the height of life is only understood by the one who knows the depth of love. So, love yourself and love others in doing so you'll never know what you are treasuring that you'll feel giving it away always.

If you have a healthy sense of self-love, you will find it much easier to love others, and much easier to accept the love of others. When you love yourself you'll certainly deserve all the good things life brings and the powerful support of the Universe.

This naturally opens the door for your hopes and dreams to be fulfilled more easily and for your life to proceed with more green lights than red one. Gautama Buddha stated, "Though one should conquer a thousand times a thousands men in battle, he who conquers his own self is the greatest of all conquerors". Infact these are the words which had a great influence on Ashoka the great after the war of Kalinga he became a peace lover.

If you happen to know and understand yourself there won't be any obstacle for you to love and understand others.

Narada tells Sanatkumar in the Chhandogya Upanishad, "Only he who knows the Self, goes beyond sorrow". By knowing the self, the unseen will be seen the unknown becomes known and all doubts get destroyed. But to know ourself, we have the shake off the falsehood in us and recognize illusion for what it is. This is the way to dissolve all differences between individuals, communities and faiths.

It is strange that most men and women in Manipur live just to reach their last destination that is death, never ever really having known themselves, who they are, where they are, what they are and their strengths or weaknesses. Their potential never finds expression. Life become exciting only when one knows his "true self".

"Man should discover his own reality / and not thwart himself. / For he has his self as his only friend, or as his only enemy. A person has the self as friend / When he has conquered himself, / but if he rejects his own reality, / the self will war against him". --- Bhagavad Gita 6.5-6

Everything has got its own base. Like wise I feel that the base of Manipur might be 'Love Ourselves' and 'Know Ourselves' and of course be true to ourselves. So, if the people of Manipur are conscious enough and 'Love Themselves' and 'Know Thyself'.

The time is not far that Manipur will surely be a land of PEACE and PROSPERITY and it will not take a long time to develop.

Here I would like to end by quoting Heraclitus, "If man craves for gold, he must dig for it or be content with straw. If one wants pearls, one has to dive deep into the sea or be content with pebbles on the shore". The choice is yours. With what do you want to be content?

"When you try to understand everything,
You will not understand anything,
When you understand yourself,
You will understand everything". --- Shunryn Suzuki

"Know Thyself" Said Socrates.

Konjengbam Candle regularly contributes to e-pao.net
The writer can be contacted at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on May 8th, 2006

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