SOW GOOD SEEDS IN THE FIELD OF YOUR LIFE

SOW GOOD SEEDS IN THE FIELD OF YOUR LIFE

What is the best that you are capable of giving to the World? I have a simple answer to that question; the best that I can give to the World are good thoughts, good words, and good actions. When I offer the best that I can to this World, the best will come back to me! Therefore, my sixth practical suggestion is: sow good seeds in the field of your life!

The law of the seed is also the profound law of karma, which is unique to Hindu philosophy. What is the law of the seed? Ask any farmer, ask any peasant, ask the simple village folk who live by the land –and they will tell you the law of seed: as you sow ,so shall you reap.

‘As you sow, so shall you reap?’ Each one of us has been given a plot –the field of our life. In this field of life, we are sowing seeds every day. Every thought I think, every word I utter, every deed I perform, every emotion that I arouse within my heart, every feeling, every fancy, every wish are the seeds I’m sowing in this field of life

The law of Karma simply stated is the law of cause and effect. It is a scientific law. It is a universal law. It is built up of these two aspects – as you sow, so shall you reap –as you think, so you become. You cannot sow thorns and reap apples.

According to Hindu belief, Yama’s brother and Chief Dispenser of Justice Chitragupt, stands at the portals of heaven, and is in possession of that significant ledger wherein are maintained the most minute details of our ‘credit’ and ‘debit’-in short, the good and bad karmas we have accumulated in this lifetime. “Jaisee karni vaisee bharni ’’-as you sow, so shall you reap. “go thou to the heaven or to the earth, according to thy merit…’’. This is what your ancient scripture tell us.

What have we been up to, in our hectic lives? More pointedly, what exactly have we done with our lives? At the gates of heaven, we will face a moment of truth, a moment of reckoning, when we are forced to contemplate the answer to this deeply personal question. What is our deserving? What is our claim to merit? In short, have we sown good seeds in the field of our life?

Let me warn you, you cannot think of sowing good seeds when you have reached the gates of heaven!!! The time to do is here and now!!!

In the age old traditions of Indian culture, the daughter-in-law of the house is expected to be reverent to her in-laws, serve and obey them. In one such household of a rich businessman, the daughter-in-law the daughter-in-law was dismayed and disappointed by her father in in-law’s ‘show’ of outward behavior. The businessman had put on the mask of a philanthropist, but in reality, he was a mean and miserly man. He would distribute the unwanted things of the household, rotten grains and poor quality food among the poor and the needy, in the name of social service and charity the daughter-in-law was a women of values. She prayed to god to give her an opportunity to set her path. One day, her mother-in-law traveled out the city and she had opportunity to serve food to her father-in-law. The daughter-in-law made chapattis from inferior quality wheat, the same wheat which was to be distributed to the poor people that day, in another ‘show’ of charity. Naturally, the chapattis turned out hard and dark brown. When the businessman was served with his food, he noticed that chapattis were not of the usual quality that he had every day. He wondered why his daughter-in-law had served him such poor quality chapattis. Angry and puzzled he called his daughter-in-law to grill her.

“Do you know who I am? I am the head of the family’’, he said.

“Yes, I am aware of that”, replied the daughter-in-law.

“Then why have you served me these rotten chapattis?”, he asked, “I am a wealthy man. I can afford the best of food why do you feed me as if I were a beggar?”

The daughter-in-law replied, “Dear father-in-law, whatever you give to others, comes back to you some day. It is better that you get habituated to eating these chapattis, for they are what you are giving to others sooner or later they will come back to you as the fruit of your karma”

The businessman was startled and he did not like what he herd, but he soon realized the truth of her words.

We were talking of the familiar saying, “as you sow, so shall you reap”, just a few minutes ago!!! Therefore, let us give the best when we are giving to others. What we give to others invariably comes back to us.