Prakash Dawadi
Life is propelled automatically by adhered ambient doctrines. The castle of happiness and sorrow in life is a direct consequence of the foundation of a bunch of beliefs one relies on. A story says one of the limbs of a baby elephant was tied with a small rope. Being young, he could not break the rope, and got confined within a small area. As time flowed, the baby elephant grew bigger. Now he possessed enough potent, but the sad reality is that he would never will to break the rope and choose to remain confined within same area instead. Not only the physical rope, a subtle rope of firm belief, ‘I cannot break the rope’ has also been tying the inner core of his mind.
This is a case of mental limitation. Since early age, our mind is tied by the ropes of fake beliefs like – ego is power; anger is necessary for gaining respect and getting works done; greed attracts prosperity and brings happiness; lust and attachment increase love in relationships; jealousy inspires one to achieve more etc. These beliefs are the barriers and ignorance is the prison.
To experience true liberty and deep happiness, one must optimize his or her beliefs. Problems come and go, but the suffering is entirely due to our incorrect programming of mind. We are usually eager to change the situation but rarely feel the urge to examine the deep-rooted beliefs.
Wisdom lies not in logics and questioning others. Rather, it lies in pondering and questioning ourselves! We must ask: “Are the beliefs I am holding eternal? Are they rational?”
[Prakash Dawadi is a student of MSc (Physics) at the Central Department of Physics, TU.]