Humanity = Pujya Gurudev

A Universal Religion for Humanity 

=Pt.ShriRam Sharma Acharya

The basic principle of religiousness is that a person learns self-restraint, adopts simple living, becomes polite, and at the same time learns to share his potentials and possessions for the welfare of others. Firm faith in true religion educates, encourages and matures a man on this righteous path. As a result a religious person proves useful in a holistic sense, to himself as well as to humanity. This enhances his dignity. Others get encouraged to follow him. Those who come in his contact get opportunities and support to grow and gain happiness. In this way a pleasant ambience is generated which gradually spreads in the society and cultivates possibilities of peace, stability and collective progress. Exactly contrary to this, a person blinded by arrogance or selfishness, flouts moral rules and principles and creates difficulties for himself and also for many others who come in his contact. 

Selfishness has been called the basis of sin, and selflessness that of virtuousness. This is so because a person blinded by selfishness gets so much engrossed in his narrow vested interests that he cannot think of doing anything for anybody’s good, and normally has no hesitation in breaking moral rules, and hurting public interests for his own narrow benefit. In contrast, a selfless and benevolent person gives importance to universal good and keeps personal gains to himself only to the extent that does not harm the social setup in any way. It is a man’s attitude and way of thinking alone that make the level of his actions superior or inferior. 

A stout but self-centered and egotist individual would use his muscle-power in acts like wrestling, fighting, and ruling over the weaker ones. His narrow-mindedness would not let him think of anything beyond. If his self-indulgence increases further he will use his strength to commit crimes like stealing, dacoity, rowdyism, etc or in terrorizing others, extorting money from others, etc. In contrast, if a person builds up his body with selfless motives then he would deploy his physical strength for beneficial acts such as – service of the disabled, protection of the oppressed, rescue and relief operations in times of emergency or crisis, physical training and education, peace-keeping etc. 

Same principle applies to acquiring the wealth of knowledge too. A self-seeking intelligent man would try to earn name and profit from each and every bit of his knowledge. He will not allow even a slight advantage of his knowledge to go to anybody else without some return. Whenever possible, he will not hesitate to lay traps to entangle simple people, befool them and grind his own axe. So before generalizing whether being knowledgeable is good or bad, it is necessary to ascertain the motive of an individual behind acquiring the knowledge. 

The narrower the point of view, the more inferior will be the utilization of all acquisitions. In one way or the other, a self-obsessed person spends whatever he earns in fulfilling his own desires, or in acquiring sensual pleasures, or in increasing comforts of his family members only. He will not be able to spare his resources or efforts towards eliminating the ailments spread in the society like illiteracy, diseases, unemployment, poverty etc. It is another matter if somehow he has to part with some of his earnings unwillingly under duress, or with an interest to earn fame. In contrast, if wealth has been earned with a view to spend it for universal good, then after retaining the bare minimum – of whatever God has bestowed upon him – for self and family, a great enthusiasm and joy will be perceived by such a person in willingly returning the rest for the good of others. 

Thanks GOD, Thanks Sadguru,

Shiv Sharma