A Different Perspective Of Life By Madana Mohan(Student-at-Law)

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 A Different Perspective Of Life By Madana Mohan(Student-at-Law)

Preface

I have seen people cry for many reason and I also have cried many times. But it’s so unfortunate that we
cry and then accept back the same thing that made us cry before; so unfortunate that we don’t know to live properly;
so unfortunate that we yearn for every other thing forgetting what real happiness and satisfaction lies in. We have all
we need and yet we don’t appreciate it. Nature teaches us time and again, all the lessons we need for a happy life, so
simple and beneficial. But we choose to ignore the lot that will make us better and less morose.

Do we need big houses, expensive cars and brand name clothes to be happy? Or do we need people and
love to take us through life?

We have seen many a men, in anxiety, with all they want in entirety, very rich but still not happy. If you
really want to know how rich you are then drop a tear and see how many hands stretch to wipe it. Why endeavor for
all the meaningless things and riches when you can appreciate and make the most of what you have and live such a
happy and satisfactory life.

Alas when men of low intelligence strives for riches beyond their need, the tears of God keeps flowing, but
never washes their stupidity, for the lord has given us all we need. A heart, a soul, a mind, a body. All meant for our
usage by one simple motto. Simple living, High thinking.

Dearest children of God, don’t go running after that which is not yours. What is yours, the lord has already
secured it for you. Just go and get that and offer thanks and be prayerful for a unique father, your ever well-wisher
and your dearest friend, the lord of the universe.

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Once there was a couple who decided to marry each other. Both from well off families but due to
pursuance of spiritual life they wanted to live a life of their own. The unlike the equal rights situation of
the present day situation, they husband assumed the duties of the sole bread winner and the caretaker of
the wonder family he imagined to have and the wife assumed the duties of a housewife and the children
caretaker. The started off in a troolie tent which leaked and encourage entities like centipede and
cockroaches around and they made their humble lives off on such a home. The husband began his
business with one packet of incense which cost about one hundred dollars and walked far miles to sell
them to bring home food for his family. His very supportive wife helped him along and soon they had a
house and were getting ahead in life quite nicely. They decided to start to expand the family as they
imagined and discuss it to their likings and soon enough they had two adorable children. Very strong
hearted children, sometimes stubborn but were very loyal, honest and supportive kids.

Then there was this third child, this boy, poor like his parents, but who just didn’t want to accept
the fact that he was poor. He dressed very nicely sometimes and whenever there was girls around he
wouldn’t hesitate to spend money, that is, whatever amount he had in his pocket. His fantasy was girls
and money but he had neither of them. But he made his way through this part of his life, lying as though
he had both of those. He lied so well that he could turn situations to his advantage and make intelligent
people fools in less than a minute. But what he really had was family and love and spiritual life and talent.
He could write and play musical instruments and talk to people and encourage and motivate them. Yet he
did not care for all of these which he had and as such ended up in disappointment over and over. Lied that
he was rich and then found to be poor, lied that he could fight well and then he would get beaten up, lied
that he had girlfriends and then found to be false. What was he missing? He did not want to give up and
thus he made others his friends under lies and false pretense. He continued and continued day after day
and soon almost everyone knew only lies about him. Soon enough he ended up at a religious place and
there was one lecture being given, not by his enemy, but by someone he didn’t like. And that’s story
seemed to have realized so much that it brought his an extreme change of heart, habits and actions.

And the story goes as follows: “Once there was a kingdom which was ruled by kings. Each man
would have a fair chance to become the king and rule the kingdom for a five year period. Everyone was
quite excited about this chance. “What a great opportunity!” they thought. But however there was one
catch. Every time the five year period is up, the king who ruled was send to a deserted island where there
were a lot of wild animals and he will be left alone. No king had ever returned from that island and there
was not any news of a survivor and everyone became scared about this. However some people were so
excited about this opportunity to enjoy that they were blinded and didn’t care much about what would
happen after their five year period. These ended up in the same unfortunate fate. But then there was this
one king who had just finished his five years rule and he was about to be sent to this deserted island with
wild animals. Like always the citizens would be there to see the king leaving for his unfortunate fate and
every king was quite terrified when they were about to leave. However, quite surprisingly, this king was
very happy when he was about to leave for this island. The citizens were stunned by this reaction for the
king and as their curiosity grew leaps and bounds beyond control, one of the citizens shouted. “Ey, why
are you so happy you stupid king. Don’t you know what you are going to meet? Haven’t they told you
that you are about to be sent to the place of your death?” the king calmly turned to the man and replied
“Dearest well-wisher, thank you for reminding me what I am supposed to meet, but come closer let me
tell you a secret. You see, during my rule, I contemplated what will happen to me afterwards and then I
came up with a plan. Here is what I did. In the second year of my rule I sent my soldiers to clear that land

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and build a nice palace and start their own families there. So today where I am going is to my palace and
my royal subjects will be there to welcome me. So what do you think?” The citizens were amazed by the
actions of the king. Such a smart move to enjoy those five years and then for the rest of his life. An entire
kingdom to enjoy made out of one choice. A choice that turned an unfortunate departure into a blissful
arrival.”

Then this third child began thinking after hearing this story, “my father always told me about how
we would die and then there would still like a judgment thing after I die with the god of death. And then
he also said we should do good things. So far all my life my choice was to enjoy girls and money and
friends and all turned out to frustrate me. I wonder if I should be using this lifetime to achieve something
better. But then why waste all my time making preparations for the next world when I could just enjoy
this material world? When the next lifetime com I can deal with that.

He recognized it but just wanted to ignore it. He thought listening to his father was old fashion
and he wanted to be ‘cool’. And then years passed and still he was constantly frustrated. Then he started
wanting to be like his father. He wanted to start writing. He followed his father every move and then
attempted to begin writing. To write he needed knowledge and then he used hours reading and paying
attention to the detail of everything around him, including people lives and nature. He wanted to help
people like his father did. He thought to himself “I can’t so anything beneficial for myself and now no
one likes me. How about helping everyone and making their lives and probably I might be happy.” And
so he started manifesting this thought in action and started to help everyone in every possible way he can.

Then his mother told him a story which inspired him to develop his own qualities to his best, a
story I think from his life would also make a change in yours, a story of a king in his garden. His mother
said “One day a king came to the garden and saw withering and dying trees, bushes and flowers. An oak
said that he dies because it can’t be as high as a pine. Applying to a pine tree, the king found her falling
down because it can’t give grapes like a grapevine. And grapevine was dying because it couldn’t blossom
like a rose. Soon he found a single plant, pleasing heart, bloomy and fresh. The king asked:
-All the trees and flowers here are withering, and you are flourishing, why? - I think it comes naturally. I
believe that when you planted me, you wanted to get a joy. If you would like to grow an oak, grapes or
rose, you would plant them. So I think that I can’t be anything else than what I am. And I try to develop
my best qualities. Look at yourself. You can be only yourself. It is impossible for you to become someone
else. You can have joy and blossom or you can wither if you do not accept yourself.” After this story He
thought that maybe he was not meant to enjoy but to help other people and himself to improve his life and
their lives and to make preparation for the afterlife.

Although his family was poor, they were happy. He took long to recognize this but at least he did
after all this time. Didn’t hurt to learn after so many disappointments. Just meant a good lesson based on
numerous events.

By this time he became sixteen years old. I would tell you this. For sixteen years old he sure
thinks a lot and very far in the future, but unlike any fairy tales, this was his very real life. A life of
lessons. By this age he was finished in high school and following his father he paid great emphasis on
spiritual life as the next step of his life. A change for the better, and he was supported by so many that he
didn’t turn back to see what he missed out on what he had given up.

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Once he was asked by one of his classmates to describe why there was such a drastic change in
his life. Becoming so honest, caring, respectful and so spiritual. And then he replied as follows. “One day
a professor of philosophy came into his class. He brought some items with him and put them on the table.
When the class began, he took a large transparent empty jar and started to fill it with rather massive
stones. Then the professor asked his students: “Is the jar full?” They confirmed that it was. Now the
professor picked up a box of small pebbles, poured them into the jar and shook it, so that pebbles filled
the open areas between the rocks. He asked once again: “Is the jar full?” They agreed that it was. This
time the professor poured a bucket of sand into the jar, and the sand filled up everything else. Now, said
the professor, I want you to see that this jar is just like your life – the stones are the most important things,
your main values – your family, health, morality, spiritual life. The pebbles are other things that matter –
your job, house and car. The sand represents the small stuff. So if you put the sand into the jar first, there
would be no place left for pebbles and large stones. Therefore pay most of your attention to the things,
that are the most important in life – spend enough time with your family, take care of your health and
don‘t forget to develop spiritually – be kind, honest, sensitive, helpful. These are the things that really
matter. They should be your priorities. The rest is just sand. I have spent all my life so far and picked up
sand, dropping all the rocks, thinking that it was the sand that would actually make me happy but I was
wrong. When I realized I thought that I must make a change. There must be other people like me who
must have not recognized that they too are dropping the stones. If I can make a drastic change, then it will
inspire them to make a change for the better and thus furthering my new endeavor to make people more
satisfied and happy. So I made a change and hope other people would notice and asked why, thus giving
me the opportunity to explain why they should keep the stones and leave the sand alone. Today I have
seen that my endeavor was not a waste of time, evident by you asking me here about my drastic change in
life.”

He continued to explain more and more and everyone became quite inspired. Fascinating right?
What a change! Many times I try to change but I never do. I don’t have that courage to do it like this guy.
Two years after when he became eighteen this is what his life became. He became successful in his
endeavors and education, he had many friendships based on honesty, became cared for and wanted,
became an advisor to many people, talents became more manifested and soon he was like a celebrity he
didn’t imagine he could become with his previous lifestyle. He experienced extremes in his life. His
previous lifestyle gave him only frustration and now this lifestyle gave him satisfaction and happiness.
Which do you think is better? Which would you want? Satisfaction and happiness are the choices I want.
He had many secrets to get this done, ways to become so happy and successful and satisfied. A key to a
world of enjoyment, the one opening the doors to all we ever desire without trying to obtain them. Would
you like to know the master strokes he played that changed his entire situation from miserable to
desirable? A few of many secrets to the best life with unlimited happiness?

It is questionable whether this one process will be successful for us all. But I want to say that
while our lives are all different; our choices will make us what we choose. We always have a choice to
make situations good, positive and beneficial or bad, negative and destructive. With the same guide lines
if two persons make two different choices then two different results will be obtained. Since I am full of
stories, I will tell you a story about how five different men lost in a forest deciding differently how to get
out, were all successful based on choices. Five wise men got lost in the forest. The first one said: I will go
the left – my intuition tells me that. The second one said: I will go the right – because “the right” comes
from the word “rightness”. The third one said: I will go back – we came from there, it means I will go out

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from the forest. The fourth one said: I will go straight – we should move forward, the forest will end and
something new will open. The fifth said: You are all wrong. There is a better solution. Wait for me. He
found the tallest tree and climbed into it. While he was climbing everyone else scattered towards their
own sides. From above he saw where they should go to leave the forest faster. Now he could even see in
what order the other wise men will reach the end of the forest. He climbed higher and saw the shortest
way. He understood the problem and found the best solution! He knew that he did everything right. And
the others were wrong. They were stubborn and they didn’t listen to him. He was the real Wise Man!
But he was wrong. Everyone was right. The one who went to the left, found himself in the thicket. He had
to starve and fight with wild animals. But he learned how to survive in the forest; he became a part of the
forest and could teach others the same. The one, who went to the right, met thieves. They took everything
from him and made him steal with them. But after some time, he had woken up something in those
thieves that they have forgotten – humanity and compassion. The remorse was so strong in some of them,
that after his death they also became the wise men. The one, who went back, made a pathway through the
forest, which soon became a road for those who wanted to walk in the forest without being afraid of
getting lost. The one, who went straight, became a pioneer. He visited the places where no one else was
and opened wonderful new possibilities for people, amazing healing plants and magnificent animals.
The one, who climbed into the tree, became a specialist of finding short ways. People turned to him when
they wanted to find the fastest way to deal with their problems, even if it didn’t lead to any development.
This is how the five wise men reached their destiny… Did anyone of them failed? I don’t think so.
Similarly our lives varies and based on the choices we make we can get through life very successfully,
leaving a lesson for everyone to make their lives better. And now for me to share the master strokes of
life/a different perspective that this third child learnt and made his life successful, aiming only for the
best, is also beneficial to me and will help you.

When I contemplate these lessons, they are all applicable to both spiritual life and material life,
but that 18 year old child learnt of the extreme difference between material life and spiritual life and thus
found it very important to convince everyone to choose spiritual life of the two. Being so important I
would like to explain the difference to you as well.

I am quite sure you are aware what the fundamental difference between the two is. Spiritual life
refers to activities done for the upliftment for the real self also known as the soul, while material life is all
the activities related to our bodies. Each of the two has its importance, which means that they should be
parallel to each other. None should exceed the other. The main difference will be demarked below.

A few years ago, a celebrity committed suicide. A man who had name, fame, admiration, money
and women in the palm of his hands. What was his problem? Can you say? I doubt. But here is what; our
daily lives lack fulfillment and satisfaction and unlimited happiness and when all this appears in front of
us, we react differently; in his case suicide. In our daily lives, we have the best of brands. Puma, Diesel,
Swiss, Martinas, American pride and so many others. We make a choice of any and then we make our
choice. Do we want a life where we party non-stop, or do we want a family life or what do we want? A
rich man will have a very sophisticated lifestyle where as a poor man will have a very struggling lifestyle
and more down the road a celebrity would have a carefree lifestyle. Does having any one of this lifestyle
actually help us to be happy? Did you ever try to do your best and achieve everything you want and then
you realize I am still not happy? Do you know why? So here is the thing. Material life has lifestyle as
described above but spiritual life has Life in it. Every wonder why some people are so happy during

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prayers? It is because spirituality gives them that satisfaction and fulfillment they need. They ‘life’ they
had been missing all along. Spirituality provides the correct environment which is required for our soul to
be continuously happy. So that’s the first difference; one provides lifestyle and the other provides life.

Secondly, material life is aimed at proving who we are or what is right. Everything we do; we go
for a job, it requires an application and then an interview to give us the opportunity to PROVE how
competent we are for this job; we go into a relationship or trying to get into on, it requires you to PROVE
how well suited you are for the other partner and sometimes to prove your love. Isn’t it? But what is
spiritual life aimed at? Spiritual life only teaches you and encourages you to IMPROVE your life and its
quality. To move through stages of your life gradually developing yourself from shraddha to sadhu sanga
to bhajana kriya to anartha nivriti and so on.

Thirdly, Material life is all about quantity and Spiritual life is about quality. In our material life, if
we are rich people, then others will readily respect us and listen to us. If you speak about money, people
want to know how much, if you speak about land and house then people want to know how big and now
when we speak about lovers and life partners, people will even ask how much too… the larger the
numbers, people will pay more rapt attention…have you noticed that? Our life is centered on making
more money, gain more lands, building a bigger house, having more vehicles and all the things where
quantity matters. Spiritual life regards only how well you are at performing service to the lord and how
well you practice your spirituality and will completely disregard and sort of quantity. This is where we
are tested on how well we can live life. A suitable test that will regard the knowledge learnt in the lessons
we went through in life!

Material life is based on information. Everything from manuals to studies to guides to statistics to
literatures and more. It begins at the nursery level in school and till we are old we still read newspapers
and look at news. Information is good but do we need so much of information? We have the best studies
about different sickness but can we stop it? Can we stop cancer, diabetes, and hypertension? No, we can’t.
We have good information about natural disasters but can we stop them? No! Then why spend all this
time for information? Spiritual life on the other hand brings TRANSFORMATION. Take the upcoming
society of ISKCON for example. Where did it begin? It began with the drunkards and drug addicts in
New York and turned them into the world’s best gentlemen. Even today the youngest followers lead
amazingly respectful, clean and healthy lives. From DRUNKARDS to SPIRITULISTS! Now that’s
transformation. If we are thinking what kind of spiritualists those are, then remember the saying “every
saint has a past and every sinner, a future…” we were not born perfect but how we train ourselves will
determine who we become.

Since you were growing up, have you ever wondered what death is like or what happens after
death? Maybe you have, but what did you do to actually prepare for that? Unlike how people actually
think, death will come for each and every one of us and there will be either life or judgment after death.
So better do something about that. Act wisely I say! Here is the thing I have learnt over the years. People
just GO THROUGH life. Some goes through the cycle as follows: MILK (BREAST OR COW) →SODA
(AERATED DRINKS) →BEER→PRIME ALCOHOL→MEDICINES→and then death. This is actually
how some people live their life. Is this what life is meant for? I would say NO WAY. Life is actually
meant to GROW THROUGH and learn the lessons, master them and become beautiful in the eyes of god.
To grow through like a butterfly from a caterpillar, to a larva, pupa, and then into a beautiful life and this
is what transformation will do for us. So stop going through life and start to grow through like a human.

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A child, just 18 years old having a life, not too much desirable, teaching us how to pick up
diamonds from dirt. Have you ever wondered how people who have the most disturbing life become so
happy in the end? Have you ever thought about the process gold has to undergo before it becomes pure?
The gold has to be boiled and heated and has to go through so many process of purification and then if
becomes our most desirable, shiny metal, gold. Do you want to be gold or dirt? Do you want to pick up
diamonds from dirt? Your choice. Reform for our lives is just based upon our choice to go through the
right process and do the correct activities.
Note below the point of view shift is deliberately meant to direct the reader exactly what needs to be done…

Lesson 1:

Firstly, there is a need to assess life. What is the situation and circumstance? The first question
arises. Do I belong here in this world? For those who follow religion, then you know for sure the answer
is no. I don’t belong here. For those who don’t believe in religion then the follow up questions will be
more applicable. So if we don’t belong here, then what are we doing in this world? The answer is, in its
simplest form that we are disobedient children of god who wanted to enjoy the position of the god and
because of this we were sent here to suffer and learn the lesson we need to. Then are we supposed to stay
here or will we go somewhere else after death? Every religion speaks about heaven and hell and how we
are supposed to suffer for our bad deeds. Granted all of the above questions are answered, then what is
our present situation here in this world? We are here to learn our lessons and to become eligible to go
home back with god where we belong. In a situation like this, what will be the most sensible thing to do?
It is to assess our strengths and weaknesses. What are our weaknesses? Our weaknesses are any area
which will keep us from attaining our goal of life, which is in this case, to go home back to godhead.
Various studies, both scientific and religious, would show us that intoxicants, gambling and sexual
activity may distract us from our goal. Intoxicants make us follow the direction of our emotions. If we let
our emotions lead us, then we will achieve nothing in life. For example, if you work in a public office
where you have to keep the people in a line and ensuring they follow procedures and an old man is there
creating a situation and you are to shout on him. Emotions will tell you that don’t shout at an old man,
because you will hurt him. However, protocol followed by intelligence dictates that he needs to follow the
procedure like everyone else, in order to uphold that every person has an equal right. In this easy scenario
we can see that intoxicants cannot help us to operate intelligently and therefore there is no requirement to
take alcohol or even coffee which contains caffeine. Gambling encourages dishonesty on a subtle level.
Often it manifests in people who frequent gambling places and activities. Imagine a world with dishonest
people where you couldn’t trust anyone. Intoxicants and gambling are bad; these are usually accepted by
people around the world, but what about sexual activity? How is that wrong or how will that make us not
achieve our goal in life. Science has already proven that sperms and ovules actually nourish the brain by
some extent. (said with the authority of the book ‘Brain Gain’) What science cannot understand is the dire
need for sexual activity among humans and why someone who had sexual relations cannot give up sexual
activity easily. With reference to vedic scriptures, sex is described as a painful process for creating a child
which is covered by a pleasure coating. It’s further stated that sexual activity is meant only for producing
saintly children as opposed to unwanted population. (BG 1.46-49) What is more interesting is that sexual
activity disturbs the mind so much that those who can’t handle it turns to disgraceful ways like having
sexual activity with their own children and some rape people. Therefore there is a need to avoid sexual
activity. How do we give up our sexual desires will be explained later in this book. Our sexual desires are
actually love transformed in lustful creations by the mind. There is another weakness which must be

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given up, and that is meat eating. Science has proven that we are herbivorous evident by our teeth and
digestive system. However, that doesn’t seem to be enough reason why we shouldn’t eat meat. But
understanding our relationship with god is serious and in order to do this we need to give up those things
that are not suitable for this process.( Nectar of Instruction 1-4)

Exert- 23…One businessman was in debt and couldn’t figure out a way out of it. Creditors were pressing
him. Suppliers were demanding for a payment. He was sitting on a bench in the park with his head down,
thinking what could save the company from bankruptcy. Suddenly, an old man appeared in front of him.
– I see that something is bothering you, – he said.
After listening to the businessman, the old man said:
– I think I can help you.
He asked the businessman, what his name was, wrote him a check and said:
– Take this money. We will meet here exactly in one year, and you will be able to return it to me at that
time.
After that, he turned around and disappeared just as suddenly as he appeared.
The businessman saw a check in his hands for an amount of 500 thousand dollars, signed by John
Rockefeller, one of the richest people in the world at that time!
‘I could end all of my problems in no time!’ – He thought. But instead, the businessman decided to put
the check into his safe. Only one thought about its existence gave him strength to find a solution to save
his business.
With the return of his optimism, he concluded profitable deals. During a couple of months he got out of
debt and started to earn money again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the same check. At the agreed time the old man
appeared again. And at the moment, when the businessman wanted to return the check and to share his
story of success, a nurse ran up and grabbed the old man.
– I’m so glad, I caught him! – She exclaimed. – I hope he wasn’t bothering you. He always runs away
from the house and tells he is John Rockefeller.
The businessman was bemused. During the whole year he was spinning and building a business, buying
and selling, convinced that he had half a million dollars. And suddenly he understood that it’s not the
money, real or imaginary, that turned his life up. It was his new confidence and belief that gave him
strength to achieve everything that he had now.

This is what maya(illusion) does to us. She gives us the slightest amount of hope that we are
going to be happy and captures us so strong that we forget god. But the difference is we don’t achieve
anything permanent in this world. That’s why we need to plan about what happens next. But if once in a
live time we can direct our confidence, belief and strength in god then our life can become successful.

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