The thoughts and beliefs that you are exposed to since your childhood is what frames you into the person you are.....
I grew up in a home which was not overtly religious but did believe in the existence of God and "good and bad". When something good happened in life, we were taught to thank God for it and when you cant deal with troubles in your li...fe, pray for assistance to God. We were taught to say a small prayer every night which we religiously followed every night. I vividly remember my father, brother and me sitting in a circle on the bed and saying our prayers. More than 20 years now and i still say those prayers everyday.
As we grew up, we got so busy with our friends and other activities, that prayer was something that did not remain so pure. It was bombarded with lots of distracting thoughts and ideas - like who in the class had a better lunch box than us or how to impress the teacher enough that she makes you a monitor of the class. Soon prayer became a splendid source to ask God for what you thought was the greatest injustice in your life.
But the essence of good and bad that was taught to us in childhood still remained. Sometimes even when I take a selfish decision, there is this gnawing feeling in the mind that takes the pleasure of the act away. That is what religion is to me.
It did not teach me to always do the right, but taught me to always make an attempt to walk on the right path. I did not learn to always think of others before myself but learnt that sometimes when i selfishly think of myself over what i should have done, it does not give me a good feeling to live with. I learnt that i don't do good to others because it is the right thing to do, but do so because it makes me feel good from within.
From the existence of "God", i slowly made a transition towards strongly believing in karma. Not because the whole world seems to be talking about it. But because it suddenly started making more sense. I look around and see everyone, including myself, pay for their deeds and also gain benefits over their good deeds. The people around me who are actually happy are the ones who have actually strived to follow an unselfish life. Maybe they are not rich in the conventional sense but still seem much more fulfilled than the majority of us.
It is believed that the universe is like a big ball of energy. And ultimately everything balances out. The energy is constant. If you are a negative person, it comes back to you and if you are a positive person, you are only affected by the positivity around you. None of us are privileged enough to have an uneventful life- one with all happiness and no sorrow. But still when you look around some people always look happy (and it makes you feel so jealous!) while there are some people who are perpetually distressed. It only substantiates my belief that if you do good, you see good around you and feel good.
I have spent days and years hating people who have hurt me and i still probably do give into the temptation of wishing ill to a few. But i do realize today that the only person that gets really hurt is me. At some level, you are ashamed of the person you have become and its difficult to sleep every night like a baby- without a care of the world. It is extremely difficult for me to think beyond short-term happiness especially when I see a majority people around me doing it. It is pretty difficult to do the right thing without giving it a second thought, when so many people around me don't do what should be done (and don't have that gnawing feeling too). Sometimes I am left with the thought that am I reading too much into all this? ......
........But somewhere this is the only way the puzzle fits. I believe that whatever you do, you reap the benefits or pay for your deeds in this birth itself. And if it does not get balanced out, that's what gets carried forward in your next birth. When we actually say that X is born with good luck or Y has a really bad luck, its just the karmas balancing out.
I still say my prayers every night and do a little puja every morning- although i am not too sure about the existence of God as a being. I rather see him as a source of positive energy. And starting the day with a pooja or ending the day with a prayer makes me feel calm and positive. Makes me feel closer to positivity in this world- which i call "God"
I grew up in a home which was not overtly religious but did believe in the existence of God and "good and bad". When something good happened in life, we were taught to thank God for it and when you cant deal with troubles in your li...fe, pray for assistance to God. We were taught to say a small prayer every night which we religiously followed every night. I vividly remember my father, brother and me sitting in a circle on the bed and saying our prayers. More than 20 years now and i still say those prayers everyday.
As we grew up, we got so busy with our friends and other activities, that prayer was something that did not remain so pure. It was bombarded with lots of distracting thoughts and ideas - like who in the class had a better lunch box than us or how to impress the teacher enough that she makes you a monitor of the class. Soon prayer became a splendid source to ask God for what you thought was the greatest injustice in your life.
But the essence of good and bad that was taught to us in childhood still remained. Sometimes even when I take a selfish decision, there is this gnawing feeling in the mind that takes the pleasure of the act away. That is what religion is to me.
It did not teach me to always do the right, but taught me to always make an attempt to walk on the right path. I did not learn to always think of others before myself but learnt that sometimes when i selfishly think of myself over what i should have done, it does not give me a good feeling to live with. I learnt that i don't do good to others because it is the right thing to do, but do so because it makes me feel good from within.
From the existence of "God", i slowly made a transition towards strongly believing in karma. Not because the whole world seems to be talking about it. But because it suddenly started making more sense. I look around and see everyone, including myself, pay for their deeds and also gain benefits over their good deeds. The people around me who are actually happy are the ones who have actually strived to follow an unselfish life. Maybe they are not rich in the conventional sense but still seem much more fulfilled than the majority of us.
It is believed that the universe is like a big ball of energy. And ultimately everything balances out. The energy is constant. If you are a negative person, it comes back to you and if you are a positive person, you are only affected by the positivity around you. None of us are privileged enough to have an uneventful life- one with all happiness and no sorrow. But still when you look around some people always look happy (and it makes you feel so jealous!) while there are some people who are perpetually distressed. It only substantiates my belief that if you do good, you see good around you and feel good.
I have spent days and years hating people who have hurt me and i still probably do give into the temptation of wishing ill to a few. But i do realize today that the only person that gets really hurt is me. At some level, you are ashamed of the person you have become and its difficult to sleep every night like a baby- without a care of the world. It is extremely difficult for me to think beyond short-term happiness especially when I see a majority people around me doing it. It is pretty difficult to do the right thing without giving it a second thought, when so many people around me don't do what should be done (and don't have that gnawing feeling too). Sometimes I am left with the thought that am I reading too much into all this? ......
........But somewhere this is the only way the puzzle fits. I believe that whatever you do, you reap the benefits or pay for your deeds in this birth itself. And if it does not get balanced out, that's what gets carried forward in your next birth. When we actually say that X is born with good luck or Y has a really bad luck, its just the karmas balancing out.
I still say my prayers every night and do a little puja every morning- although i am not too sure about the existence of God as a being. I rather see him as a source of positive energy. And starting the day with a pooja or ending the day with a prayer makes me feel calm and positive. Makes me feel closer to positivity in this world- which i call "God"
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