We must accurately assess ourselves in five aspects — usefulness to ourselves, our family, society, nation, and to our world, explains AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI
In the best-seller Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, the writer has concluded after giving a lot of thought that being useful gives the maximum satisfaction. There are many things which satisfy us greatly, like success, but being useful beats them all.
Therefore, I have chosen the topic of how to be useful for this article. How useful are we reallyIJ To find out, we have to assess ourselves in five aspects. These are: To ourselves, to our families, to our societies, to our nations, and to our world.
let us begin with ourselves because this is most important. Unless we are useful to ourselves, we are in no position to be useful to others. This is akin to wearing an oxygen mask first in a plane before we can assist others.
As we are in four parts, ie soul, intelligence, mind and body, we must be useful to all of these. I will begin in the reverse order, with the body because like the example of the oxygen mask, this vehicle must be healthy to accomplish all other tasks. In the Bhagavad Gita, lord Krishna has emphasised the physical health and guided us in detail. Briefly, we must eat/drink what is appropriate for us, sleep as per bodily requirement, choose and do activities to optimise ourselves and have entertainment which relaxes us, and pleases us. Are we doing all theseIJ
Then comes the mind. This is the first house we live in: Our bodies and houses of brick and mortar come afterwards. By the way, it is the mind through which we feel satisfaction. Therefore, the mind must be controlled, ie it should be peaceful and healthy. Are we making attempts in this directionIJ
Intelligence comes next. We may have the impression that we are very intelligent, but that will only be a false impression unless we possess the higher spiritual knowledge, which comes from scriptures like the Gita. Efforts have to be made to study them, ask questions from knowledgeable persons, discuss with like-minded persons, etc.
lastly, we come to ourselves. Have we made any progress in our eternal journeyIJ If not, our precious human lives have been wasted. Details of making such progress are in our scriptures.
Now we come to our families, of which all of us are parts. Are we useful to our parents in some wayIJ And if they are aged, are we of some service to themIJ If we are parents ourselves, are we training our wards properly by giving them quality timeIJ As married persons, have we become friends with our spousesIJ These are avenues where our usefulness really matters, and we can feel it too.
Coming to our societies, we should never become a burden on them. Rather, we should contribute in some way for their upliftment. And we can begin by keeping our homes clean from inside and outside, not overuse precious resources like water and electricity. We all naturally crave for attention. By being good persons, we become assets to our societies.
Then comes our nation. Ideally, we should excel in whatever we can do best, like a scientist, an artist, an athlete. This way we will be useful to our countries and make them proud. We should follow rules and laws and be ideal citizens. Personally, I have chosen to disseminate spiritual knowledge through books and articles.
lastly, we should be useful to the world by protecting its environment, in conserving its precious resources, etc. Our small efforts matter because these add up and make our world a better place to live in. Do all these and much more that you can think of and see how much satisfaction you get.
Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com