Yaksha Prashnam Questions 64 - 67

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yaksha-prashnam-questions-59-63.html

What should be abandoned by a person to become beloved by all? After abandoning which we can lead a worry free life? How can a person become rich? How can a person lead a happy and comfortable life?

What should be abandoned by a person to become beloved by all?

Everyone adores a person who has abandoned ego. A person who has abandoned self-ego will be humble thus loved by all. No one likes to keep the company of a know-it-all or a self-trumpeter.

After abandoning which we can lead a worry free life?

By abandoning krodham we can lead a worry free life. In Sanskrit there are two words used for anger; one is “kopam” and the other is “krodham”. There is a big difference between “kopam” and “krodham”. Kopam is normal anger. We feel this when we see injustice done. Our anger is directed towards the perpetuator of the injustice. This kind of anger is rightful anger. Krodham is an emotion we feel when we desire something but feel angry when we do not get the object of our desire. We direct our anger towards innocent people who had nothing to do with us not getting the object of our desire. For example an employee desired to be promoted but his colleague was selected for promotion as the colleague was better suited. The employee started to feel angry as he had not been selected. He went home and rang the doorbell. His wife was in the kitchen using the blender and as a result she did not hear the doorbell. It took a few extra minutes for her to realize that there was someone at the door. As soon she opened the door, the employee yelled at her stating that she had brought nothing but bad luck because of which he had not been promoted. This kind of misplaced anger is called as krodham.

This should be controlled to lead a worry free life. We will only get those things in life which we are destined to get. There is no use worrying about attaining our desires and feeling angry when our heart’s desire is not met.

How can a person become rich?

We can become rich by not spending money to procure unnecessary items. By controlling greed and lust we can become wealthy. Benjamin Franklin mentioned that if a person keeps on buying unnecessary things then that person will end up selling necessary things.

How can a person lead a happy and comfortable life?

We can lead a happy comfortable life if we learn to be contented with what we have.

The answers of Yudhishtirar could also be considered from the following spiritual angle.

In order to attain the love of Lord Narayana we must abandon false pride. It is said that the Lord reveals to the people He loves the most. The Lord loves those people who have abandoned ego. During the Mahabharata war, Ashwatama used the Narayana weapon against the Pandavas. Lord Krishna announced to the Pandavas that the only way to remain unharmed by the weapon was to cast away their weapons and their pride by surrendering to the weapon. Everyone except Bhīma followed Lord Krishna’s advice. The weapon’s intensity increased as Bhīma had not surrendered. The weapon vanished only when Lord Krishna forced Bhīma to surrender. Our false pride and ego keeps us from attaining Lord Krishna.

As long as we lust after unnecessary material things and give place to greed in our heart we will never achieve the Supreme Wealth called Lord Narayana. We must realize that everything in this Universe including ourselves belong to the Lord. He is the only proprietor. We can lead a happy worry free life once we come to the above realization.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/03/yaksha-prashnam-questions-68-71.html

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Based on, Yaksha Prashnam - A discourse in Tamil by Sri U.Ve. Karunakaran Swamy
(Any errors or inconsistencies in the following series are due to the mistakes I made while taking notes. ) 

Copies of the CDs can be obtained from Sri Karunakaran Swami’s website http://www.nadadoor.org/ . This series is for the benefit of people who do not understand Tamil. Those of you who understand Tamil very well must definitely obtain a copy of Swami’s Upanyasam. You can do so by contacting Nadadoor.org. Swami also renders discourses in English but I am not sure if Yaksha Prashnam discourse is available in English.  The experience of listening to Swami’s upanyasams could never be obtained by reading the following series. I have done my best to take notes with due diligence. I apologize for any errors that I have made while writing this series.