How Do I Become More Aware And Be Peaceful And Mindful?

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By practicing religion! ☺

The general understanding that prevails about religion is not the exact religion.

“What is religion? That which brings forth ‘results’ is called religion. When anger, pride, deceit and greed progressively decrease and are eventually annihilated, that is religion.” – Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan.

Let’s understand this through some common day-to-day examples.

Example 1: “Someone verbally insulted me.”

In such a case, what would you do?

Reaction 1: I get angry and scream back at him and give him verbal insults.

This is not considered as religion, because we hurt that person.

Reaction 2: I maintain an understanding that it is the result of some of my own past deeds, so I should patiently listen to him and should try to solve the problem calmly, without hurting the other person’s ego.

This is said to be practising religion as you maintained the awareness that, “I should not give pain to others or hurt them. Moreover, I may have insulted this person in the past, due to which this insult has come to me today. If today, again I insult the person by giving him back, it means once again in future, such insults will come to me. For every Action, there is always a Reaction! This is how the science of Karma works.”

Thus, by practicing religion, you become more aware, and with this awareness, you remain peaceful and mindful.

Example 2: “In a store, a person picked my wallet and ran away.”

In such a case, what would you do?

Reaction 1: I get upset, I keep abusing him in my mind and wish ill of him.

This is not considered as religion at all, because religion teaches that we should never wish ill of others, not even in our mind.

Reaction 2: I maintain an understanding that this is the effect of my own karma and hence I am able to forgive the thief. I also seek forgiveness from the thief for whatever negative feeling arose in my mind towards the thief for stealing my belongings. And I pray for him that, ‘May God bless him with the right understanding to not steal.’”

This is said to be practising religion as you maintained the awareness that, “I must not think negatively of the thief. I must instead apply the right understanding and remain calm. Moreover, religion teaches forgiveness. So, I must forgive him for this was not his mistake; it was a result of my own wrong-doing in the past. Also, I must pray for him because he too will have to undergo a punishment for this act of stealing in future, at the hands of Nature.”

Thus, by practicing religion, you become more aware, and with this awareness, you remain peaceful and mindful. You will not have a single worry on your face, nor will you feel like beating the thief or doing any harm to him.

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With your prayers, the thief too will turn towards positivity in his life and become more aware and be peaceful and mindful in future.

Example 3: “My friends took me to a party where they served me alcohol and drugs.”

In such a case, what would you do?

Reaction 1: I consume alcohol and drugs to give company to my friends, but I do not reveal it before my parents as they would feel bad and would scold me. Instead, I lie to them and tell them that the party was good and my friends served me nice hot vegetarian food.

Lying to parents is dishonesty, and by consuming drugs, alcohol, etc. we cause harm to our own selves. Therefore, we did not practice religion in both the dealings.

Reaction 2: I remain firm on my understanding that consuming alcohol or drugs is not good, and thus I do not give my friends company. I tell them that my religion does not permit me to take this, hence please excuse me. Also, I leave from there very quickly, making some excuses. I came home and shared this with my parents that my friends offered so and so to me, but I refused them and left that place. My parents then advise me to remain away from such friends. I agreed and obeyed my parents, and severed my friendship with those friends forever.

Yes, that’s called abiding by religion. You excused yourself from such a situation with the right awareness, peacefully but firmly, by not indulging in wrong things. Moreover, you listened to your parents and distanced yourself from the wrong company for good.

Thus, the significance of religion lies in its principles

When we follow these principles,

both, our present as well as our future life improves,

peace, harmony and happiness prevails in and around us, and

most importantly, we scale up to a higher level of spiritual development and awareness.

Moreover, religion gives us protection and strength to face any situation very calmly and boldly. Religion saves us from slipping downwards by curbing our internal enemies, that of anger, pride, deceit and greed. Religion teaches us devotion and surrender that helps remove all kinds of worries, tensions and stress.

To not hurt or harm any living being and to help and serve people, to give happiness to others are the basic tenets of religion.

These help bind merit karma of a very high order, which ultimately lead to us meeting Gnani, the Enlightened One.

So, always pray to God, “Dear God, May no living being be hurt by my mind, speech and body. And may every living being in this world attain peace and happiness. Please bless us all so that we all meet the Enlightened One soon, from whom we receive right understanding and also attain Self-Realization (know really who am I)”

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