One more thing !
Good Vs Pleasant - Some notes from Kathopanishad!!
Some notes from Kathopanishad:
అన్యత్ శ్రేయః అన్యత్ ఉతఏవ ప్రేయః
ఉభే నానార్థే పురుషం సినీతః|
अन्यत् श्रेयः अन्यत् उतएव प्रेयः
उभे नानार्थे पुरुषं सिनीतः।
Starting his teaching for Nachiketa Yama starts with the simplest truth.
”Good is one thing and Pleasant is another” - "Both bind men in different ways"
It is that there are two things in life . One is good and other is pleasure. Blessed is the one who chooses ‘good' . The one who chooses pleasure has the pleasure but misses the real goal in life.
This is not a very difficult concept.
It is essentially about choosing immediate gain ( pleasure ) versus long term gain ( good). This is a daily battle. Lots of times people fall for the short term immediate pleasure. The one who chooses the long term good is the one who is really blessed.
Happiness is the goal of every struggle. The motivation to achieve happiness is great. But absolute contentment is when there is no desire. To achieve this state of not desiring anything is the goal. Yama's teaching is towards achieving this goal.
He says the one who chooses “ good” as opposed to pleasure is the " Blessed one". Because choosing pleasure he would be led astray towards more desire. By choosing good he is traveling the path to achieve this state with out desires.
We as individuals also free to chose a life of integrity honesty , piety and truth fullness and consequent inner peace or a choose a life where- in you sacrifice some of these principles and continuously strive for short term happiness of creating more wealth and material comforts.
Nowhere there is any suggestion that choosing “good” is rejecting wealth!!. Choose “good” and if you make wealth in the process , the inner peace by such acquisition is far more superior to the one who sacrifices good ( principles) and achieves the wealth !!
That is an undeniable truth
Om tat Sat