All things have to come to an end. The year 2018 began its jogging in January and is now running towards its closing stages. Similarly, as soon as a baby is born, it grows up and becomes a part of the lives of its family members who raise, educate and influence it and finally, all men chug towards their finishing line.
Everyone wants to bask in the glory of success; so, periodically, each one checks their progress. Humans, examine their conscience, at least once, towards the end of the Gregorian calendar to look at the health of their soul; whether it is on the road that leads to the “narrow gate” to salvation or marching on the broad side track that “leadeth to the wide gate” to damnation. Even politicians try to find out whether their actions are within permissible limits: whether the rural masses are experiencing “nitoll Goem” free from gobbledygook or “suj Goem” with mountains of garbage; whether the country is facing corruption and its countrymen are its victims; whether people are enchanted under their power with the arrival of “acche din” or disenchanted under their service with “burre dins”. Life on this earth is a journey amidst all sorts of people — slanderers, gossip mongers, cheats, charlatans, thieves and wicked characters who also talk to their conscience; as all men have a desire to change from bad to good, philosophers say: “However bad a person may be, there is always some good in him; and however good a person may be there is always a little bad in him.”
A change comes over the spirit of all and sundry on New Year’s Day; so they make resolutions to better themselves. But according to the law of change: “a man was different yesterday; he is different today; he will be different tomorrow.” And the law of weakness states: “A weak man’s assets are hatred, envy, pride, destructive criticism and loose-talk and therefore, they are not able to live up to their New Year’s decisions which fluxes and fleets away.
But there are a few who are able to live up to their resolutions and to know this it is not necessary to go deep into Christianity; we have examples of many sinners who have changed their life and turned saints by disciplining their mind and training their consciousness to attain spiritual heights.
“Meditation and silence can strike a balance between spiritual and material attainment.” Men of success, besides their tremendous achievement, find something missing in their lives which made them very sad; for example, Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity was the formula for making the atom bomb. But he was not happy because, instead of doing good for humanity, it killed thousands of civilians, left thousands maimed and injured. He said: “Try not to be a man of success but a man of value. Be creative, but make sure that what you create is not a curse for mankind.”
Men come and men go playing their role on the sands of time seeking to amass paltry riches; land and buildings, silver and gold, dollars and other currencies which are temporary and trivial. They are possessions only until life lasts. But “good character, good conduct and knowledge of God are the three real treasures to be gathered as they stay on, sustain and strengthen a person until one attains union with God.”
